Peace of Mind
by HalfLidded
Summary: Adopted from GreatGoogilyMoogily. He had faught a war, and he had lost all he had to it. So he left to hide behind sake and forget. Until she found him, sleeping on a bed of flowers that rivaled the color of his hair. And he had found himself.Naru au Hina
1. Chapter 1

"_Peace of Mind" Originally written by GreatGoogilyMoogily, I've been given permission to rewrite it but I'm going to leave the first four chapters unchaged, seeing as they are done so well. I wouldn have had at least two more chapters of my own for you, but I'll explain it at the end of the last prewiritten chapter._

_Thanks and by for now!_

There were bodies all around him. Every inch of ground was either covered in blood, weapons, or the mutilated remains of human life.

Some were allies.

Some were enemies.

Some were people too mangled, with uniforms too bloodstained and destroyed to tell which side they had been on.

But more important than which side they had fought for, they were all humans. Each and every one of them was a living breathing creature that had feelings, memories, hopes, dreams, and people who were important to them. And now all of those lives were ended, cut like a piece of rope for no reason other than for the sake of one man's revenge.

The numbness had overwhelmed him now, the feelings for those who had fallen disappearing, and now he was left with a cold hollow numbness that felt as if someone had ripped a hole where his heart and lungs should have been and filled the then vacant space with a large chunk of ice.

The allied bodies still caused a small feeling in his stomach, a sort of nausea that had nothing to do with his grisly surroundings. Bodies of the enemies, however, were nothing to him. Apathy was the only emotion he could think to spare to those who would follow a madman on his quest for the death of thousands of innocents.

Then there were the bodies that hurt the most, the ones that left a bad taste in his mouth every time he thought of them and the smiles, scowls, and lazy grins that he would never see again. At least for one of those things he was filled with a small amount of comfort.

The first amongst them was a girl he thought of as a sister, a head covered in pink hair that brought attention to her in a crowd was now caked with blood, dirt, and smashed leaves. The face that he had crushed on when he was young suffered from a deep hole that went into the back of her head and left chunks of her brain squeezing out and onto the ground. She was the first to die, at the hands of the boy that she loved, from a Earth Element attack that launched a rock the size of a baseball through her like she was made of paper.

The second was certainly less gruesome, though it didn't make him feel any less pain than the first. A tall man with silver hair and clothes that even before the battle had looked messy and uncared for was littered with superficial cuts. Ironically, he did not die in battle against his former student, but had been killed by a kunai to the back from a random soldier who's name would never be remembered. The great copy-cat nin killed by a nobody that had likely never made it past Chunnin rank in Otogakure. What a fucked up world we live in, huh?

And finally the cause of this whole god damned bloody mess. A black-haired man who could barely pass as such with girly features that made pretty women look like trolls. He looked like a princess from a dream world where everything was all pixie dust, lollipops, and leprechauns. It was the kind of world where there was always a happy ending and it would fade out with music playing while the prince would get some off stage.

Not here though.

Here was the real world, and that fuckwit had lost his life before he could do anything to make the happy ending for himself on Konoha's ashes.

He had made damn sure of that.

The body was barely recognizable after he had gotten done with it, from bruises on the small spots of flesh that still remained intact, to the bones ripping through organs and muscle like a knife through tissue paper. It had left a rancid smell in the air, like someone had left a bucket of seafood scraps out in the sun for a few days then pissed in it.

The lifeless eyes of his severed head stared from the pike that had been driven up what remained of his esophagus, coming straight out the top of his head at an odd angle. The wood had splintered slightly when it had made contact with the bone that marked the top of his throat.

All that still wasn't enough though, he should have had much worse done to him. Much, much worse.

He couldn't help the small sigh that escaped his lips at that thought, as the revenge he wanted so badly after he had first seen Sakura die turned out to be a worthless thing. Honestly it made no sense to him why Sasuke would abandon his whole live for this kind of victory.

It didn't make him feel all that better, and the only real satisfaction he got from it was knowing that Konoha was safe for now.

That thought brought a small twinge of humor to his eyes, sure Konoha was safe. It probably would be for all of ten seconds until another damn enemy hellbent on the end of his village rose up and tried again where everyone else had failed. But who knows, he may just be the lucky bastard who could pull it off.

That was a bitter thought if there ever was one. Though he supposed that it was also a true thought.

For the life of him he started to question why he was doing this anymore, and he honestly couldn't come up with an answer that brought his mind a bit of peace. There wasn't all that much he had left there. With the deaths of his teammates only five members of the original twelve genins remained. Team Gai had lost Tenten in a battle with Kisame after being forced under water and devoured by water sharks. Ino and Chouji died when Madara made his first attempt on the village two years ago trying to use a Shintenshin with Nikudan Sensha to take him down. It failed miserably, and Shikamaru killed himself after the battle was over, bringing Team Ten to a complete end.

Team Eight had lost Shino on a routine scouting mission to Rice Country when they were ambushed by a group of twenty Sound-nins, the village having been brought under the control of Sasuke by this point. Kiba and Sai had escaped only because he had stayed behind to try and give them enough time to escape back to the village. By the time his fight was over he had killed fourteen of them, and would have kept going had he not completely exhausted his chakra doing so.

Those were just the deaths of those close to him, and if he were to go into the deaths of acquaintances and the shinobi who he had never met the list would stretch on much longer.

And enough was enough.

As soon as he got back to Konoha he was quitting this damned job and moving out of that god-forsaken city to some small village in the middle of nowhere. He would learn to farm, buy some land, and live the rest of his natural born life in silence. Screw being Hokage, screw staying here, and screw the consequences of his actions. This had gone on for far too long.

And with that thought in mind, he turned South and left the bodies behind.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"You're sure then?"

"I've never been more sure in my life."

Tsunade let out a deep sigh. She had known this would be a conversation that wouldn't be enjoyable from the moment that he had walked in the room with the all too familiar look of utter defeat locked in his eyes. He was giving up and wanted to leave his village and home behind to off to god knows where and **farm** of all things.

And honestly, she couldn't blame him even a little bit.

He needed time away from the village, she had too when she had lost Dan and Nawaki. He had lost the last goal he had, along with the three people that were closer to him than anyone else, sans her and perhaps Iruka.

And that doesn't even take into account the fact that Uzumaki Naruto had put more into his friendships than anyone else she knew. With the childhood he had it wasn't surprising that the loss of his closest friends was hurting him this much.

"Look, I understand what you're going through and I know that sometimes the best course of action is to take a break, but I want you to think about this."

"I have thought about it. I had three days to run it through my mind on the way back and I really don't see anything that would make more sense for me to do right now."

She couldn't help but rub her forehead after that one. She had known it was unlikely a few words on her part would be enough to change his mind, but she couldn't help the fact that she wanted to cling onto the little bit of hope that she had left.

"Alright. I'll give you a travel pass and suspend you from active duty, you'll still be a ninja and I can still call you back if we go to war, but other than that you're free. I'm gonna miss you brat."

"Thanks."

"Just keep in mind that your current position isn't going to change if you get through this and want to come back."

"I will baa-chan."

She thought he wouldn't likely be back for a long time.

He though he would never be back.

But she knew better than he did. This place had a weird way of dragging you back into it's clutches and making you love it again no matter how badly the memories hurt. First hand experience taught her that it was impossible to really escape from Konoha.

And while on days that paperwork was plentiful and problems were everywhere she cursed the damn power this place had for placing her at the spot she was at, right now she couldn't have been happier. It was doubtful she would ever see him again if not for that little rule.

So for now she would let him go, and wait patiently until things worked themselves out.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**A/N:** Okay, first story's first chapter. A rather short one I know, but I hope they'll get longer from here on out.

If you notice any inconsistencies in the story, please leave them in reviews and I'll get to fixing them right away.

Also, yes this will be a NaruHina and Hinata is not a ninja. You'll be seeing her soon enough, so keep reading.

**EDIT 10/5/09:** Okay, so I wrote the first chapter for this at 5 in the morning when I got a little flash of inspiration and posted it without proof-reading. So naturally when I got back home from school and bothered to read the whole thing I was honestly hitting myself for writing it like that. I literally doubled the size of this chapter with new paragraphs and such, and like it a lot more now.

Let that be a lesson out there to everyone, don't write when you're so tired you can't see straight.

_End Chapter one. _


	2. Chapter 2

"_Peace of Mind " by GreatGoogilyMoogily chapter two. Leaving the first four chapters untouched. I have been given permission to adopt the story, so don't ask. Aaaannnnddd… that's it. :D_

It had been four years since Pein leveled Konoha and he had been forced to move into his new apartment.

It was a fairly nice place, much better than the old run down apartment he had lived in for most of his life. It wasn't an expensive place by any stretch of the imagination, but it was comfortable and reflected who he was rather well. Unfortunately, '_who he was' _was a complete and total slob. He had been forced to use seven Kage Bunshin to clean the place up before he could get everything sealed away.

He stood in the doorway now, everything he owned backed into a single backpack that was hung loosely around his shoulders. Despite the fact that he never spent all that much time at his apartment, as he was always on missions, eating out, or training his ass off, there was still a pang of regret that he would never see the place again. It held some happy memories, such as his eighteenth birthday, which was the legal drinking age for shinobi and he had gotten roaring drunk with Kakashi and tried to hit on a lamp that he thought had been a shapely woman.

Still, a few good memories in a single building weren't going to keep him from remembering all the miserable ones he had from around the village. The times he had spent on the couch lamenting the death of one of his friends, the glares he had received in his youth, and the nights he spent crying himself to sleep wishing that he had parents were certainly powerful enough incentives to leave.

While plenty were faded with time, the fresh scars that had been etched in his mind only recently weighed heavily on him.

It was of simple matter of him not wanting to be in this place anymore. Not the apartment, not the village, and hell not even the damn country.

He had given up on his dream to become Hokage a time ago. The exact time was something he couldn't pinpoint, but sometime around Chouji and Ino's death he had just lost the will to put the weight of the entire village on his shoulders. After that his dream just kept slipping further away from his mind, until he couldn't really care whether or not he ever got the job.

A last glance was thrown into the house before he walked out, door slamming behind him, leaving all the memories behind as he walked towards the gates.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

There wasn't anybody to see him off. He had expected this though, as the only person that really knew he was leaving right now was Tsunade, and she wasn't likely to say anything about it for awhile. She had always been nice to him, and would give him some time to leave before she broke the news.

It was around five a.m when he got to the exit of the village, the sky was turning from pitch black to a dark blue, signaling the coming of dawn. Early risers were still inside preparing for a day of work, whether it be a day at the shop, a light exercise before a day off, or they were going out to kill the enemies of their country.

The guards gave him no trouble as he passed the threshold of the gate and headed out of the village for what he hoped was the last time.

He had decided while packing that he was going to head to the Land of Waves for awhile, to get his head sorted out a bit and meet with his old friends. The last time he saw Inari and Tazuna was when they had come to help with the rebuilding of Konoha, and he had promised them that he would visit them sometime after he had come back from the Kage Summit in Iron Country.

Once he had some time to reacquaint himself there he planned to wander for awhile, with no set timetable he could spend as much time in as many places as he wanted. Aside from wave, there were a few places he wanted to visit that Jiraiya him had been to on their three year training trip.

The next step after that would be to find some place permanent. While traveling was fun, it grew old rather quickly in his opinion. He wanted to find someplace out of the way, not a large city or a tiny village, but a medium sized town that wouldn't notice him moving in, but would have a population where people weren't completely unfamiliar with those around them.

He hadn't really decided how he would bring in money though. A farmer was his first thoughts, but honestly he didn't know the first thing about farming, and while he could learn it would likely be some time before he could bring in any money or food from it. The next job he came up with was finding a store owner that needed an extra hand and earn some money that way, but then he wasn't exactly going to be making enough money to own anything but an apartment.

And it likely wouldn't be a very good one either.

All that thinking was for later though, once he got out of Fire Country he could look around and see if he found any place that had what he wanted and figure out a job of some kind.

For now though, he was free. No villagers, no duties, no work, and no sour memories eating away at the inside of his skull.

And honestly, he wouldn't have it any other way.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

The massive structure loomed over him, cold concrete and steel beams taking on an eerie tone in the misty morning. He had finally reached the Great Naruto Bridge after four days of constant high speed travel, and he had to say that nearly eight years had not diminished it's grandeur at all. The bridge stretched on for a few miles ahead of him, and aside from a few cracks from the wet climate it was still the same as he remembered.

People went about their business about him as he stood there admiring what he had helped to create. Wave country was prospering with Gato dead and it was certainly showing, the ground near the front of the bridge was covered in cart tracks and travelers of all varieties surrounded him.

But the faces of the people was what really drove home how much things had changed.

Instead of a look of being crushed and poor, streaked with dirt and pale and hollow from starvation and sickness they held looks of happiness and contentment, well tanned and healthy skin that was stretched on one or two faces with plenty of fat. The rags that adorned most people eight years ago had been replaced with the clothes of wealthy merchants and commoners that could put food on the tables.

As he continued his walk towards the village on the other side of the bridge he felt a bit more of the weight he felt leave him. There was practically no similarities between this country and the one that had been under the heel of a tyrant not so long ago, and knowing that one was a big part of that certainly could do a lot to boost ones spirit.

_'It's just too bad that the rest of them couldn't be here.'_

He immediately regretted that thought, as it brought the bit of joy he had down to the ground and beat it mercilessly, then raped it and left it for dead in an alley.

Trying to tune out the bitter thoughts that had resurfaced in his mind, he looked up to realize that he was at the end of the bridge and that the village he left had changed even more than the people. What had once been a small little community that was mostly farmers and small store owners had morphed into a large town that in a few more years could easily be called a city.

With it's close proximity to the bridge, he really shouldn't have been surprised that it got this big. After all, if everyone who was coming in from land was forced to pass through here it stood to reason that it would grown at an extremely fast rate.

Still, the fact that it had grown _**this **_fast was nothing short of amazing.

While before there were only one to two story buildings and small stands that held very few wares there were now buildings as high as four stories with stands lining streets that were overflowing with people. Bright and gaudy signs could be seen every-which way and people were spending freely, no longer holding onto their meager amounts of money for the essentials.

Deciding that he had been traveling for long enough to warrant a break for food, he stepped into a nearby stand that sold various dishes and quickly looked over the menu. Seeing as they didn't have any ramen he resigned himself to an order of yakitori and a bowl of rice.

Despite it being slightly crowded due to the time of day, he still didn't see anyone he recognized and no one seemed to know who he was either. It seemed like with the rapid growth of this place a lot of new people had moved in, he could guess it had more than tripled based on the amount of people he saw in that streets, although that would only be a rough estimate.

When his order arrived he payed and ate quickly, leaving after a short trip to the bathroom.

Unfortunately he now had to deal with the problem of finding Tazuna's house. Between the huge changes to scenery and the amount of time since he had last been here he couldn't for the life of him figure out where it was.

The next hour was spent wandering the streets looking for something familiar before he came upon a sight that made him stop dead in his tracks.

It was a statue.

A statue of **him**.

It was bronze, about ten or twelve feet high and flanked on three sides by slightly smaller statues of his teammates in their thirteen year old forms and his teacher. He could tell that it was very well made, there was a great attention to detail and the resemblance was very strong, meaning it was likely created by someone that had seen them while they were there.

He wasn't exactly sure when it had happened, but at sometime a small grin had appeared on his face.

"Naruto? Is that you?"

Quickly turning around he found himself staring at a slightly older version of Tsunami.

She was very good looking for a woman who was coming up on forty years of age. Her hair was well kept and her face held no sign of wrinkling, but her skin had lost a bit of that youthful luster and her eyes looked a bit duller. A light green skirt that fell to about half way between her ankles and her knees clashed slightly with her dark blue shirt and by this point she was actually about four inches shorter than he himself was.

The grin he sported from seeing the monument widened into a full blown eye-closing smile and he let out a chuckle.

"Yep, it sure is!"

"Well it's been quite a while, hasn't it? I haven't seen you since you were a boy. Father said he and Inari saw you when they went to help rebuild Konoha." She was returning the grin with one of her own now.

"Well I've been busy and haven't had any time off for myself until now."

"Well it's certainly nice to see you again. I was here to get some ingredients for dinner, you're welcome to come over and eat with us if you want. I'm sure Inari would love to see you again."

"Ha, yeah that sounds awesome."

They chatted about small things, from how much he had grown to how things had been in their respective villages. Naruto made sure to leave out the fate of his team and him leaving his old life behind. Honestly he felt like he didn't want her or her family to know what he had done as it would most likely leave them with a much changed opinion about him. Thinking about it, he felt hypocritical for the things he had said to Inari about not being afraid now that he had left everything he knew behind because of some bad memories.

When the topic finally did change to his team he lied and said that he was the only one who had been given time off and that they weren't a team anymore due to changes in rank. Lying to Tsunami left a bitter taste in his mouth, as he was very sure she had told him no lies in their talk.

The shopping was over with soon and they were on their way back to the house within half an hour. He learned from her that they had moved to a larger house and had plenty of money now. Apparently Tazuna had been able to start his own construction company with the prestige from the bridge and with such a large boom in the town there was a huge number of contracts for new buildings coming his way.

Even after learning about Tazuna's new job he was struck dumb when he saw the _mansion _that they lived in.

It was three stories high. Constructed of a very strong and beautiful looking wood and embellished with designs of various colors shapes and sizes. The roof was shingled a dark green and brown with gold trimming on corners and the front door frame.

It looked to have three wings that surrounded a pond and collection of trees. Each wing looked like it could have ten rooms, with the one in the middle looking slightly larger than the other two.

Regaining a bit of control he muttered a single word.

"Damn."

Tsunami laughed quite loudly at this.

"Well I'm glad it impresses you."

"Saying this place impresses me is like saying I like ramen. I mean, wow, this is way bigger than I thought it would be."

"Father designed it himself, it took awhile to build and cost him a lot of money."

"I bet it did."

He followed Tsunami into the house and helped her to put the groceries away. She began making dinner afterwords and told him that Inari and his grandfather were probably out fishing right now.

"So how long are you going to be staying?"

He hadn't thought about that yet. With no pressing concerns he figured he would leave when he would leave and had left it at that. Thinking about it now that wasn't the best way to go about it, especially considering the fact that he hated hotel rooms. The god awful tackiness and impersonality of them drove him to want to ram his head into the walls whenever he stayed in one.

"I dunno, I'll probably stay a few days but I haven't really thought about it much. I'd need to see about getting a room somewhere and I would need to be leaving in about a week."

A week was just a random measurement of time he had thrown out. It would probably be good though, as there wasn't much to do here but spend time with his friends and eat.

"Well why don't you stay here? We have a guest room and more than enough money to feed another person."

"Really? I mean I wouldn't want to be a bother..."

"Please, you helped us more than enough to earn a week of food and a room. We likely wouldn't be alive right now if not for you, and if we were our lives would be miserable."

"Alright, if you don't mind than I'd be more than glad to."

"Good, now why don't you go and rest a bit, I'll tell you when Inari and father get back."

"Thanks a lot, I'll be waiting then."

A quick walk after some directions from Tsunami and he was relaxing in a double bed in a well furnished room, his shoes discarded near the door.

Upon hitting the bed he found that he was quite tired from his journey. He had woken up at roughly five in the morning after sleeping for only six hours and it was currently seven at night. All the walking and little food had left him in a bit of a bad mood, and he ended up dozing off for a little while.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

He was pulled from his wonderful dream of a world full of free ramen and large chested naked women and brought back into reality by a rough shaking of his shoulder.

"Hey! Naruto-nii-san wake up!"

The cause of this rude awakening was none other than a sixteen year-old Inari. The pessimistic little boy of yesteryear was gone, replaced now by a teenager that would be a man very soon.

"Mhnnnn... Lemme alone, I'hm tired."

"Come on, you don't see me for four years and all you can think of now is to sleep? Besides dinner's ready and gramps and mom want you down there."

"Alright, alright I'll be down."

He left the comfort of the bed reluctantly and stood up on shaky legs. Obviously the depth of his exhaustion had gone deeper than he thought, as he was groggy as hell and felt like a pile of shit.

Taking a good look at Inari, it was obvious that he had changed a lot more than his mother. While not as tall as him it was obvious that he was going to be a big man, being only about six inches shorter than he was and about a half an inch shorter than he had been at that age.

The striped hat he had as a child was still on his head, though it was obviously very worn. An open tunic-like shirt showed that he was used to labor, as he had a good deal of muscle. Completing the outfit was a pair of black pants that looked to be made of a very thick material, as they had obvious signs of being put through some tough conditions and hadn't ripped or worn out anywhere.

Tsunami had told him earlier that Inari had a job as a construction worker in his grandfather's company, and that he was learning the finer points of being an architect from Tazuna, and that he would be in charge of the company after the old man died. After all, a sixty seven year old man only had so long before he went down and his drinking didn't help in that respect.

After changing into some clothes he kept unsealed he made his way downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Ah, there he is! The little brat's grown up a lot I see. You're taller than I am now!"

Tazuna hadn't changed at all. He wore the exact same clothes he had seen him in four years ago when he was in Konoha, which was a copy of his outfit from eight years ago sans the stupid straw hat.

"And you're still a drunk old man!" Despite the fact that the comment was an insulting one, he delivered it with a smile, which was fully returned by the target.

"Ah whatever, you're always gonna be a brat to me. Enough of that though, let's get to the food!"

Dinner was certainly better than he had thought it would. He hadn't thought it would be bad, but the entire experience made him feel warm inside, and not for the first time he wished he had a family of his own. The food was great, Tsunami had prepared gyoza with beef, and served it with the fish that they two men had caught and rice on the side.

More importantly than that was the conversation. There was no discussion of missions or new techniques that they had made, instead they told stories of their lives and talked about what was going on in the world at large.

They were quite shocked when he told them about all his exploits as a ninja, from killing Pein when he attacked Konoha to finishing off the other members of Akatsuki and all the other ninjas he had beaten.

While Inari couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was and Tazuna was going on about how he had never thought the little shrimp that had tried to beat him up when he insulted his height had gone on to be one of the most powerful warriors in existence, Tsunami was chiding him for doing such reckless things and putting himself in danger.

It was nice to know that they cared, and the warm feeling that was in his stomach grew even stronger throughout it all. He was certain that if he had a family that they would be a perfect example of how he would want it to be.

After dinner he headed back upstairs to shower and turn in for the night, his stomach full and his mind feeling much better than it had in days.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

The week he spent with them seemed to go by in a blur.

From fishing with Inari and Tazuna to taking some minor cooking lessons with Tsunami he was able to forget for awhile the troubles that he still had to face. For just a short while he could not think about having to find a new home and start a whole new life.

It was a blissful experience, spending so much time with a small group of people where the objective wasn't to go out and kill someone or steal something. All that there was to do was talk and joke around, the closest thing he had to this was when he was with Ero-sennin and even then there was always thoughts of Akatsuki and Sasuke lingering in his mind, and the training was back-breaking to say the least.

He had went to visit Zabuza and Haku's graves on the third day, and unsealed Kubikiri Houcho from one of his many scrolls and put it back in it's rightful place. Suigetsu had been killed a year ago, and he been carrying around the sword. Apparently he stole it from Zabuza's grave immediately after joining up with Sasuke and had gotten it broken in their attempt to kill Danzo. How it got fixed was a mystery, but he was glad that it was so he could bring it back to where it belonged.

All too soon the good times were over and he was standing on the front porch of their large house with his pack hung on his shoulders again.

"Well, I guess it's time then..." His voice was softer than it normally was, not really liking the idea of leaving just yet. Still he couldn't just stay here forever and the less attached he got the better it would be for him in the end. Not to mention the fact that if he stayed too long he would start to be a burden on them.

"We'll miss you brat. You're welcome to come by at any time, the rest of your team is too."

"Yeah I'll be sure to tell them." '_Or not.'_

Tsunami was the next one to speak.

"Don't go and do anything that you're going to regret, we want to see you again and not at a funeral alright?"

"Yeah! Then I wouldn't get to hear anymore awesome stories from you Nii-san."

"Maa, ma. Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. I've already kicked the asses of everyone who could even think of beating me. There's not a person alive who can do more than put a scratch on me."

Inari cracked a grin and laughed a bit.

"Yeah, well someday I'll get you in your sleep. The strongest man on earth beat up by a construction worker, how cool would I be then, huh?"

"You'd be pretty damn cool."

With a final few words he started off again, setting his mind finally onto where his next stop was going to be.

_'I suppose it doesn't really matter.'_

And that was true. He had no real preference on where he was headed, the only thing that mattered was where he ended up staying, not what trips he would take along the way.

Thinking over his location on a map he decided to head to Water country. It would be fairly easy to get there and he had a few memories of how beautiful it was.

With a decision made, he started on his way to the bridge again, intent on reaching the ferry to get there in two days tops.

_**And End Chapter Two. **_


	3. Chapter 3

_And, "Peace of Mind" by GreatGoogilyMoogily again, so yes carry on now…_

**Chapter's done.**

**11/27/09 – Day after Thanksgiving, so it's a bit late to say this but happy Turkey day everyone.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

There were two things Tsubasa Sato loved in life, money and power, and to him the pursuit of all other aspects of life was secondary.

Money could be used in an amazing variety of ways, from buying stocks in business and hiring assassins to dispose of your enemies to bribing people to look the other way or make a slight slip of the mind when recording something.

However, money couldn't always get what one may want, which is where power came in. With enough force, and liberal use of fear and numbers, one could destroy the faith of zealots and kill the hope of the largest optimists.

When he had still lived in Kumogakure, he had been Jonin, and while not particularly powerful in the physical sense he was renowned for his ruthless nature and lack of any form of moral code. He took jobs that other ninjas wouldn't even begin to consider, and did them quickly and effectively.

All without even the slightest trace of remorse.

To him the details were inconsequential, if some children were to be killed it didn't matter to him. If he was to abduct a woman so she could become a slave for a dirty man then so what? She would have had ended up having sex sooner or later.

The world was unfair and full of shit already, so who would care if he heaped a bit more onto the ever growing pile?

With the pay for these awful deed being so much greater than some of the more _clean_ duties a shinobi could perform his wealth grew to great heights, taking his power along with it.

Soon he had invested the money he earned into businesses all through out the country, and his political pull increased. No longer was he just some ninja, he had a council chair in his village and respect from all the citizens.

The power he gained was, however, not enough. He had an insatiable desire to increase his influence even further, and no matter where he got to it would never be enough. Contrary to what one may think, the higher he got the more it grew inside of him, until it was so strong that he made a terrible decision.

He decided that no matter what he had to do, or who he had to kill that before his life was done he would be the Raikage.

However, there were a multitude of problems with this. First and foremost he most certainly wasn't the strongest ninja in the village. If he were to be quite honest with himself he was actually only a decent Jonin, and all the things he gained he did so with using underhanded methods and deceit.

Unlike a large number of his colleagues he was not so stupid as to try and use flashy techniques and fight with honor. He was a ninja who struck from the shadows, kidnapped friends and relatives, or poisoned his targets, but he never engaged in direct combat unless necessary.

The second problem was a slightly less serious one, but still a very large issue to consider. It was his heritage. He did not come from a large and prestigious clan, nor was he the sun of a famous ninja. No, the family he came from was mostly farmers, and the last ninja to come out of it was his great grand uncle, who got to the rank of Chunnin before suffering an injury in his knee that forced him to retire.

And of course the there was the third and final issue of the current Raikage. He was a brute of a man who suffered no slights to his person or close friends without serious repercussions. If he were to openly challenge the massive man for the position he had no doubt in his mind he would be a smear on the ground within seconds.

These issues begged the question, how was he to do it? All the chips seemed stacked against him and he knew that he would have to use his brain to it's fullest here.

So he waited patiently, waiting for an opportunity to present itself to him. When it came he would grab it with everything he had and gain what he sought.

And finally, four years ago a small glimmer of hope shone through to him.

The Raikage had made a very large mistake. Putting his brother's safety before that of the village he sent a group consisting of over fifty Jonin and one hundred Chunin to hunt down the errant man and return him to the village.

And this group ran right into the three remaining member of Akatsuki in a confrontation with their target.

The resulting slaughter led to the death of the disgusting plant man named Zetsu, that however was the only success. When the ninja returned to the village they had succeeded in their goal, but the cost was great.

Eleven Jonin and twenty six Chunin returned, all the others had died for the sake of returning one person to the village.

While many had recognized that it was necessary to save the demon host of the eight-tailed beast, there was a much larger group of the population that had been furious. The loss of so much life had left many families and friends displeased with their current leader. Plenty who hadn't even lost friends in the battle were upset over the favoritism shown towards the Kage's family.

And he had taken full advantage of that.

If he couldn't gain the position through the normal means then he would have to take it by force.

Every penny he had was put towards the hiring of outside forces, while he concentrated on building up supporters within the village itself. He already held enough sway to bend away a few councilors, and with the growing forces that he had it reached a point where there was real hope for victory.

Four months in he he made a mistake. In his excitement he got hasty, wanting to get his plan to take off before the situation cooled off and the wounds caused by the incident lessened with time. He approached a high ranking civilian official with his plan,without any way to assure that he would join, and the man said he would consider the offer.

This was a lie. He reported Tsubasa to an ANBU commander, and a full investigation was launched into everything from the money he spent to the time he spent out of the village.

This led to him being discovered within a week, and everything he worked for was blown away.

Those who supported him were killed, his assets were seized, power revoked, and a bounty was placed on his head.

Of course, he had already left by the time that these changes were put into effect. The second he heard that his actions were being monitored and his previous activities investigated he knew he was going to be caught. Leaving behind everything but the money on his person he fled the village immediately.

For two years he laid low in the western regions of Earth Country in a small cottage. He would train himself to keep in shape and hunt for his food so he wouldn't starve.

The search for him had been over for quiet awhile by this point, but he took the lesson of caution from his experience and decided that he would err on the side of safety.

However, he was sick and tired of the poverty and powerless existence he held, and so he did what people who loose everything do.

He started from scratch.

There was no shortage of wandering thugs looking for a job, and with the right words and a small show of force he could start his life as a bandit.

There was no chance of him ever regaining the power he had, after an attempted coup no village would trust him and if Cloud was to discover he was operating anything larger than a bakery he would be assassinated within a month.

This is where we find him today, leading a band of highwaymen close to the border of Lightning Country. It was his own form of petty revenge, if he couldn't hurt the Raikage in any serious way he could at least do some damage to trade in the area and create some paperwork.

Tsubasa may have been smart, but even his rational thought process could be overwhelmed by anger every now and then.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto Uzumaki loved two things in his nomadic life, ramen and sake.

Ramen went without saying really. Anybody who had even a small amount of contact with him could tell that he had a borderline obsession with the food, though very few understood why. It was not simply the taste, because he would fully admit that, while it was certainly good, it was by no means an amazing dish.

He loved it because of the memories associated with it.

The meals he had shared with his friends, the old man, and Iruka had been among the happiest moments of his life, moments that he would treasure forever.

For someone who never had family, the time he spent with his friends in the dinky little stall called Ichiraku was like home.

It was really unfortunate that life was such a cruel bitch and had taken those friends away from him, and those that it left alive moved on. They were by no means not completely gone from his life, but their relationships were definitely strained.

Lee had a family. Yeah, shocker huh? He had met a civilian woman who didn't care about the atrocious way he dressed and talked. She loved him for his spirit and Naruto was happy for them.

Neji was the clan head of the Hyuga, which didn't exactly leave much time for friends. When he had nearly died on the mission with Ten Ten the job had been forced on him to keep him out of danger. He was engaged to some princess or another as a political marriage, and from what he could tell Neji hated the woman.

But when you're in such an important position sacrifices must be made right? He probably would have fought against it more had his only sane team mate survived. Try as he might to hide it there was no mistaking he had cared for her as more than a friend.

Then he would have his head chopped off.

Kiba was even more depressing then that though. He wasn't married, and wasn't likely to be in a long time with the way he was living. Shino had been close to him, and when he first lost him he threw himself into drinking like a maniac and sleeping with any street trash he could find.

Unfortunately he hadn't ever managed to get out of that. He toned it down as time went on but he was still drunk constantly when not on missions and was sleeping with random women he picked up at bars.

To put it simply he was a mess.

Sai was... well Sai. He was a cold, emotionless, wise-cracking bastard. That was pretty much the only constant out of the teams. No matter what happened Sai would always be Sai and when the apocalypse came around he would ask the four horsemen if they had penises under all that armor.

Then he would have his head chopped off.

The whole thing was just one big depressing mind fuck, and he would much rather ponder other things. Ramen and the memories he had before the Konoha 12 became what it was today fell into this category.

So while ramen may have been a given, sake was another story.

He had first tried it when he was eighteen, Kakashi had taken him out to a bar for his birthday along with some of the remaining members of the group. It was there that he discovered that the healing powers he got from the Kyubi helped to burn alcohol out of his system at an extremely advanced rate.

In the end he drank five bottles all by himself before he fell off his stool and passed out in a puddle of his own vomit.

While it wasn't recognized on his first trip to the hospital, after fifteen drinking binges over a period of two years questions arose. For example, why his liver looked like it belonged to a man who had never even drunken a Zima.

It was one of the few benefits that having a demon fox trapped inside of you had. Right up there with healing fatal wounds in seconds and temporary bursts of power that could make an entire army shit their collective pants.

So he drank like a sailor whenever he felt like there was a need to celebrate or mourn something, usually the former, as with the lack of duties he had to suffer through recently there were significantly more happy times than there were sad.

It had been four months since he left Wave. While his original plan was to find a place to settle down, he had quickly been reminded of the joys of the road, and hadn't been able to get away from it. Tea country, Sea country, Water country, and a few smaller and less well known places were on the list of his visited locations, and he wasn't planing on stopping just yet.

While he didn't like having to pass through his former homeland to come here, there was plenty of reasons to make a visit and look around a bit. Kumo was right along Konoha in terms of military power, due largely in part the thriving economy.

Shipping on it's southern and eastern coasts brought in large enough revenues itself, but combined with the fact that there were literally hundreds of ore and diamond mines in the mountain ranges that stretched through the area and you had a very wealthy country.

The border was roughly five to seven miles behind him at this point, and he was thoroughly enjoying the weather that the lowlands had to offer. It was a mild day in early fall, the sparse trees around the road were losing leaves and the air had a slight chill to it that complimented the warm sun perfectly.

All in all he was in a very happy mood.

That is, until a kunai came out of nowhere and nearly ripped into his throat like a knife through butter.

By the time he had recovered the enemy was already on him, being trailed by a group of thirteen obviously weaker enemies that had all the grace of a seventy year old man.

A second later and a brace of shuriken sailed gracefully through the air, accompanied by some less graceful knives, rocks, and what he could of sworn was a _bottle_ flying towards him.

It was quite obvious at this point who had talent and who didn't.

In a single fluid motion he swung a hidden kunai out from his sleeve and deflected four shuriken, grabbing the remaining two and knocking the more well aimed knives from the air, ducking under the remaining projectiles and hurling his weapon into a mans skull.

The men gave a momentary pause in their charge, which was all he needed to off two more of them with some well placed attacks.

Seeing this, the leader (or at least he assumed him to be the leader based on several glaring details) pulled back, being shortly followed by the remaining men.

"I can see you have some skill then. The prudent choice here would be to leave your possessions on the

ground and walk away, there is no reason for me to lose more men or you your life."

Naruto didn't even need to utter a single word. They were standing close to one of the fallen thugs, and if they had taken any time to observe the corpse they would have noticed something odd about the weapon lodged in his skull.

It was, for the most part, just a normal kunai with the only difference being the pair of prongs off the middle blade,and a small seal covered tag wrapped neatly around the handle.

A smirk covered the blond mans face, and before the assailants could move a single muscle in their bodies a flash of yellow enveloped the area, followed the blissful embrace of death.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Hinata Hyuga loved her life.

For most people this would seem strange, as there was nothing very special about it. She lived in a small village in the Land of Lightning with no mother and worked in a flower shop her father had bought years ago.

Due to her father's age she had to run the shop by herself, and worked many hours every day to keep their heads above the water.

A flower shop though, does not bring in much money and her and her father just made ends meet every month. While not exactly poor, she certainly wasn't well off either.

But who was she to complain? There was a roof over her head and a meal on the table for her every night, and the routine she had suited her just fine.

Even through the hard work and the mediocre living conditions she loved it because of the simplicity and the happiness she got with her two person family, and never really aspired for anything greater.

She didn't want to be the best or to own a large amount of land, or do anything else grand and memorable for that matter. Nor did she want to have large amounts of money and buy frivolous things like jewelry and clothes.

For Hinata, none of that mattered.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Hiashi loved his daughter.

For her he would climb any mountain, commit any sin no matter how great, and destroy anything that so much as slightly annoyed her.

When her mother had died in childbirth his world had fallen apart. If not for her he would have likely lost himself to despair, and lamented how cruel the world was for everything it would continuously throw at him.

Instead, he worked for her.

It was what Natsume would have wanted. That was all the excuse he needed to devote his entire life to his daughters welfare.

His own love for the soft-spoken, beautiful, and unfortunately shy girl just made it that much sweeter when he got to see her face light up with joy at something he could for her.

That wasn't a regular occurrence though. Money was tight between them, and he had gotten up in his years, making it harder to put in that little bit of effort needed to get out with more money.

Despite it all though he would spend not a penny on himself and put everything he could into getting her something at every special occasion.

Hinata was a modest girl though, and would always tell him the same old piece about how he shouldn't be wasting the money on her and get himself something for once.

And every time he answered the same way.

_'The best gift I can receive is seeing you happy.'_

While others might have wanted more in life he was perfectly content were he was, spending days with aching bones and nights in front of a fire relaxing with a cup of tea.

If he were given a choice he would take his current life over all others, with not a hint of regret for the remainder of his days.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto was absolutely wasted.

After the debacle on the road he had taken all the things he could off the bodies of the bandits, and found a massive amount of money on their collective bodies.

Being quite frank, the only one with any kind of real combat prowess was the singular shinobi amongst them. The fact that they had gathered this much meant that they had to have been here for awhile.

The thought brought a bitter taste to his mouth as he thought about the people that died to line the pockets of some bastards. They hadn't even been spending it either, just collecting it up for some purpose or other that would now never be fulfilled.

He went to the nearest village and dropped the bag in the middle of an alley, hoping that some body who actually needed it would come across it at some time.

Because it wasn't like he did.

After Jiraiya had died, Naruto had found out that the perverted old man had left nearly everything he had to him in his will.

He owned six different houses throughout various countries, as well as enough money to buy twenty more.

Between his conservative spending of money and the odd jobs he picked up along the way he really didn't need to worry about a job for a long while, and he upon realizing how long he could last if just camped out every now and then he had decided it would be nice to spend a little more time on the road then he original had planned to.

Following his trip to the alley he decided to indulge in one of his two vices and dropped by a local bar. There he began pounding alcohol at an inhuman rate.

Which led to him getting buzzed.

Which led to him getting slightly _more _buzzed.

Which led to drunkenness.

Which, finally, led to his current state of being so smashed he couldn't remember what his name was anymore.

The bartender, being sufficiently annoyed by a certain loudmouthed blonde told him he wasn't going to serve him another drop.

...Which led to said blonde punching him in the face.

After a rather humorous situation in which three bouncers tried, and failed quite miserably, he left on his own. But not before _yelling_ to the entire bar that the whole place was filled with a bunch of pansies and ugly ass broads.

Naruto was not a very pleasant drunk, as you may have guessed by this point.

Deciding that the hammering in his head was bad enough to call for some sleep, he wandered aimlessly looking for a bed. In his current state he didn't think much about the fact that weren't going to be any beds in the middle of the road and continued his doomed search for a place to lay down.

Eventually giving up on the idea of finding a bed in what he deemed a town full of insomniacs, he trekked a short way out of the village and plopped down in a field of flowers. Within three minutes he was out like a light and snoring so loudly not even a bear would be brave enough to come close.

It was seven hours before someone found him. This someone was there to pick flowers that she would sell in her fathers store that day.

When she woke him up, neither of them knew that they had found someone they would love more than their lives or all the ramen and sake in the world.

Tsubasa on the other hand found nothing that he loved. He did however find something that he hated very much.

Flies.

Or more specifically the **maggots** that came from those flies. You would hate them too if they were burrowing into your skin and eating away at you.

_**And end chapter 3! Peace!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_And chapter four of "Peace of Mind". Couple things. Turns out I can't count. GreatGoogilyMoogily only had three written out chapters, so I start off at four. Also, I would have had more chapters up, but I was out of town for the last week with my grieving family, we lost a good man this week. *sigh* There will prolly be some sort of dedication you won't get at the end of this chapter, or coming ones._

_Also, there will be a lot of flowers mentioned in this chapter, and probably future ones. I worked as a florist, and I love flowers so I know quite a few. If you don't know what they are, or have a really hard time imagining them, go to my page and look for the link to the wildflower directory. Most, if not all, should be listed there._

_Anyways. On to the story. _

_Enjoy._

She had been up for a few hours, just slightly before the sun rose on the clear spring day. When it was still a bit cold, and the dew clung to the grass and whipped about her ankles sweetly with the breeze.

She was out to gather flowers, flowers she would use later that day, in arrangements and vases, as a way to brighten someone's day. Because that was what she cared about. For someone to be happy.

Her father had lost the ability to hustle about the shop a few years ago, when his age started to catch up to him. He had had a promising life as a shinobi he told her. But that, oh that was such a long time ago. After a botched mission and her mothers' death, he had left the town he came from and moved her here, deep into the fields and trees and petals. Where she wouldn't have to hurt, or learn the life he had.

So he had worked a normal man's life, given up everything for her, though he would never regret it. He at first had been a hired hand, and then saved up enough money to buy the small shop in town. He turned it into a florists shop, naming it after her because 'everyone loves sunny places.'

On that thought, she continued moving through the line of trees towards the field she would be harvesting from this week. The pale lavender sundress she wore moved silently and silkily around her legs, ending mid-calf and whipping gently against her skin.

Hinata made her way into the clearing as the sun burst out from the tree line behind her. It was warm, and for that she was gracious, the wind playing with her dark indigo hair and the sun making it glimmer. Slowly, she made her way into the clearing, and began to pick the flowers. By the line of the forest, she was lucky enough to find a rather large patch of baby snapdragons. The heavy blooms were perfect, and in a range of colors; bright orange, deep blues, a heady violet, a peaceful lilac, a pale yellow. Oh, they were beautiful.

She silently set down the large, wide basket on her arm and opened the handkerchief in it, pulling out a small, but sharp blade. The bright early sunlight glinted off the steel, and she began the tedious work of cutting the snapdragons near the base of the stem. Small bundles of maybe 25 or 30 stems, she collected, would then be placed gently, lovingly in the basket. She loved the snapdragons, with their tiny flowers and petals, a soft as silk on her delicate hands. When she had gathered somewhere near six bundles, she placed the knife in the handkerchief again and placed it in the inside edge of the basket, near the bottoms of the stems. She walked slowly from the tree line and out into the field.

Grass swayed beautifully in the breeze, and birds were chirping somewhere high above her. The smell of flowers clung to the air like dew clinging to the grass early in the morning. She took tentative steps out into the longer grass, being careful not to step on the flowers if she could avoid them. She came upon a patch of taller stemmed flowers, near a foot and a half tall, the Blazing Star and Golden Lupine, one being a medium violet and the other a deep golden yellow, like the rising sun. Setting the basket down gently, and taking the knife out from its confines in the handkerchief, she set to work cutting 10 stems from each. They would pair beautifully with the snapdragons. She would need some neutral tones though…

As she placed the handkerchief and the knife back in the basket, she became aware of a strange sound, something like a buzz, or was is it a hum?

_ 'It almost sounds like fathers' snoring.' _She thought kindly to herself, eliciting a small giggle from behind her lips. She gently picked up her basket again, moving over to a new patch of flowers, the sweet colors of Scarlet Flax and Rose Mallow brightening the smile in her eyes, with subtle highlights from yellow, white-tipped Tidy Tips. The bright Iceland Poppy that dotted in between the Scarlet Flax seemed to add highlights to the pale red and rose, with its bright yellows and red, vermilions and deep oranges. She pulled the knife out again and set to work cutting the stems low to the ground and placing them in the basket, running in length to the other flowers she had collected. Halfway through, she looked over her shoulder to see a large patch of Zinnia's, all popped open and full of glory, with pale oranges and deep reds, even some pinks and rose blushed ones poking through. She finished cutting what she had and moved quickly over to them. She would certainly have plenty of flowers for arrangements today, and if she was lucky, some left over to bring home to father.

She moved quietly to cut them, and began humming a small tune, one from so long ago; one she couldn't quite place when she heard it, but knew it meant something more than just a song to her. As she cut and moved forward more, that strange humming, or was it buzzing, from earlier seemed to get louder. Curious, she wrapped the knife up after gather the last bundle of Zinnia's, and placed both items in the basket, carefully lifting the now much heaver item onto her arm. She wandered for a bit more, picking long stems of ferns and large, flat leaves as details for the arrangements. She continued on, looking down at the smaller flowers not yet ready to be cut at her feet, until a sandaled pair of feet suddenly blocked her view.

And those sandals led to legs, clothed in dark pants, an old, faded black, and tattered near the bottom, as if they had not been changed or washed or even repaired in months. As if this person had been walking a long time. Her pale eyes drifted up the legs and to the chest, where a shirt, orange along the bottom half, and black along the upper portion, appeared to be in much the same condition as the pants. Faded and tattered, with some tears on the arms and chest. And dirty. Though she couldn't see how sleeping on the bare ground with nothing beneath them but grass and flowers could help.

And slowly, her eyes drifted to his face. Sun kissed, the earthiest tan she had seen on someone, as if they had spent much time outdoors, running around and doing work. His eyes were closed, she could see he was a man from the way he laid, and he snored lightly as the sun danced on his skin.

But his hair, his hair was what surprised her the most. Bright blond, tussled by wind and rain, spiky somehow, even as he dozed. He slept on a bed of Blazing Star and Siberian Wallflower, the yellows of those two rivaling the blond of his hair. Dotted between the yellows were blues, Baby Blue Eyes and Chicory, one pale with a white center the other a deep blue, like the clear sky above her. And near where his left hand extended away from his head grew a large bunch of OxEye Daisy. The broad white petals around a large yellow, pollen covered center beckoned to her. Silently, as to not wake him, she moved over to the flowers and slowly began cutting them, laying the stalks one by one into the basket, all the while humming pleasantly.

The first thing Naruto became aware of was his headache. The fox may have been able to burn the alcohol out of his system, but that didn't mean the furry bastard wouldn't make him feel it when he woke up. The constant throb behind his closed eyes, coupled with the fact that sunlight was pouring down on him reminded him that at some point in the early morning, long before dawn, he had stumbled away from a bar and out of town, into a field. And that was where he had made his bed.

Resisting the urge to groan, he took a deep breath to try and relieve some of the pressure. It seemed to work, as he let the deep breath out. Slowly, he turned his head to the side and sighed contentedly. For now at least, there was a little bit of peace for him. In his alcohol induced, dreamless sleep, he wouldn't be plagued by the nightmares or faces of those he had failed. For a time being, he could be all right.

The sound of bees near him nearly made him jump up. Damn did he hate those things. But beneath the buzzing, there was a sound, one that fluctuated in pitch, as if someone was humming a lullaby.

It didn't take long for his to find that someone _was_ humming a lullaby. Someone was very near him, humming softly. The sound of fabric rustling, of something being, what would it be, plucked? Cut? He couldn't quite tell. But if it was cut, then this person humming so sweetly, so melodically, had a knife.

And knives can kill. He should know, he's used one more than once to finish off an enemy.

Slowly, silently, employing all his training and ignoring the pain in his head, he opened his eyes and sat up. He looked first to his right, to see no one, then to his left, where his eyes fell onto the last thing he expected to see in the middle of a field full of flowers.

A woman, somewhere near his age he guessed, in a long pale lavender sun dress kneeled about five feet away from him, her back towards his as she worked on something he could not see. A large basket sat on the ground to her left, a small square of fabric resting off the end closest to him. In the basket, he could see flowers, so many flowers, all of varying shapes and sizes and colors, like she had picked the rainbow just to carry with her. He saw the skin of her arms and shoulders, and of her partially exposed calves, a creamy, delicate paleness that seemed to glow in the sun, just almost. She had long hair, down to the small of her back and it was the darkest shade of midnight black, just tinged with a deep indigo, and it fluttered around her hips in the light breeze gently.

At the thought, and sight of her hips, the more male aspect of him seemed to kick in, and he noticed the roundness of her hip, and the curve of her back tapered into roundness of her rear. He could see her waist, though not skinny, was the right kind of curve, one that didn't make her hips look too large, but made them inviting to the hands to grab.

Naruto's eye went downcast, and he looked away from the woman. He shifted slightly, silently, to turn toward her more. If she noticed he was awake, and if she was a ninja, well he might have a fight on his hands, and he wasn't about to be caught off guard. No, he had left behind his ninja village, but he couldn't just forget his training. He couldn't just forget who he was, who he had been for the last ten years.

_But, if she was a ninja, wouldn't I already be dead? _ He couldn't help himself form wondering. If she needed information from him, she would keep him alive, but why would she continue to let him sleep in the open, unrestrained? None of it seemed to make sense. He'd wait for her to see him, and if she needed to be killed for his own safety, he would do it.

_It'd be a pity to waste such perfect hips though…_

Hinata continued cutting the OxEye, and didn't worry when the man stirred behind her. She figured he was lost, and she would tell him where to go from here, maybe show him to town so he could get some food and water, and then he would thank her and be on his way. Yes, that seemed like a good plan. She hummed contentedly as she cut; keeping her ear open for if he spoke or maybe he would just leave. Maybe he didn't need directions. But surely he needed food, everyone needed food! Worried that he would leave without being properly fed, Hinata turned to look at him. He was awake, most definitely, and he was turned towards her, his left hand on the ground and his right hand resting on his right hip gently. His hair was still spiky; she guessed he probably couldn't do anything more with it but let it grow. She noticed then, that it hung long, near his shoulders, and it drifted into his eyes, and waved slightly when the breeze went through it.

She smiled slightly and looked to his eyes to speak to him, and promptly froze. The Baby Blue Bonnets and Chicory that had made his bed were no comparison to his eyes. A deep blue, like the sky after it rains, when the sun lights the entire celestial plane up and brings it to full glory, that blue was looking into her eyes at this moment, and it left her stunned. A blush began creeping up her cheeks while looking at him, a warm feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, and all at once, she wished he would close his eyes again, even if they were the most beautiful things she had ever seen, if only to give her the semblance of sanity.

Her voice, that was the first thing she needed to worry about. Speak first, say hello, ask him if he was lost, ask him if he was hungry, ask him if he needed help getting to town.

_Ask him something!_

But he seemed to beat her to the idea.

"You're a Hyuga?" He seemed to ask tentatively, almost warily. His shoulders tensed and his right hand drifted down his hip to the thigh, where she saw a pouch. Stunned, and not trusting her voice, she merely nodded at him. His eyes narrowed and he moved to a crouch, not taking his eyes off her. "Are you a ninja?" His eyes darted to the knife in her right hand and then back to her face.

She had a feeling that if she didn't answer him, he might do…something. She didn't know what, what she knew she wouldn't like it.

"N-n-no, I'm j-just a f-flower girl. A-a-are you a n-nin-ninja?" She stuttered horribly towards him. At her words, and her obvious nervousness, he relaxed. His right hand went away from the pouch on his thigh and he moved to sit again. Once situated, he looked her over. She had a nice oval face, and the fair complexion he had seen on her arms and shoulders was mirrored on her face. The rosy hue to her cheeks didn't go unnoticed by him; though he shrugged it off to fear. Her lips were pleasantly pouted, just a shade or two pinker than her skin, nowhere near as dark as the blush. Her bangs hung over her forehead, and two tendrils along the sides of her face framed it nicely, delicately. Her eyes, though so similar to the blank white of Hyuga in Konoha, had a glow to them, as if tinted with a different color. Was it possible that happiness tinted the eyes? He knew that happiness could be seen in the eyes, but could it change them? From the cold, blank stares he was used to, this was a pleasant, if unexpected, surprise.

"Yeah, I am, well, I was a ninja. I left behind that life some time ago." His eyes drifted from her lovely face to the grass near his left hand. He played with the long, broad leaves and moved to gently run his fingers over the blue flowers near his hand. They were sort of small, fading from the outside in from blue to white. He'd say they were pretty, but pretty didn't seem like a good word to describe them. No, he'd need a better word.

"T-those are B-baby Blue Bonnets. T-they, um, they like full sunlight a-and only l-l-light rain, though they c-can survive a h-harder rain." She seemed to be trying to break the uneasy silence he had settled over them, he noted. "I-if you're lost, I c-could take you t-t-o town and, um, y-y-you could get some f-food or s-something to d-d-drink. O-or an inn, t-there is an inn in town. O-or maybe, maybe – "

"I'm not lost." He broke in. "I'm just wandering. I don't really have anywhere to go back to. I mean, I had a village, but like I said, I left that behind." He looked up and smiled sadly at her. She returned the smile, if not as sadly, at him. He wondered briefly why she would feel sad for him. She didn't even know who he was. "So, uh, I know you're a Hyuga, but what's your name, huh?"

Her blush increased more, no longer just a dusting over her cheeks and she quickly turned to face him and bowed. "I'm sorry! M-my name is Hyuga H-h-hinata." She sat up from her bow, and looked at him, her blush still prominent. "Um, m-may I ask what y-your name is?"

He looked at her for a little while silently, and she looked away, seeming to not be able to look at him for too long before the blush would get stronger. Shyly, he reached up to scratch the back of his head. "Uh, hehe, yeah. My names – "he hesitated, wondered if it was safe to tell her who he was, but quickly determined he would be fine. He wouldn't be here for too long anyways, who could it harm? "My name is Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto. It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Hinata." He smiled at her, and her eyes darted up to his face before she looked away again, with a cute smile on her face. "So, if you wouldn't mind telling me, what country am I in right now? I've been walking for, well a long time now, and it isn't like there are signs anywhere to tell me where I'm going…" he laughed sheepishly and continued scratching the back of his head.

She smiled at him, looking up, with a now retreated blush just dusting her cheeks. "Y-you are in Lightning Country r-right now. Just a few m-miles from the b-border of Lightning and s-some of the n-non-ninja provinces."

Naruto tensed again, and Hinata was confused as to why. She had lived here her whole life. Maybe the village he was from was at ends with Lightning? "Um, Uzumaki-san, is s-something wrong?" He suddenly locked eyes with her and moved to stand.

"How is it that a Hyuga made her way into Lightning country, and you have yet to be killed?" Hinata froze.

_Killed…? What does he mean? _He suddenly changed topics on her.

"How far away are we from the capital, Hinata-chan?" He asked, standing up and moving towards her, right hand tensed but away from the pouch on his thigh. She looked up at him, a little afraid of how serious he sounded now.

"Its m-more than two w-weeks away by carriage, I-i've heard. I haven't been there though, Father s-says it is t-too big of a city, h-he doesn't want me g-g-getting lost." She was confused. Why would a Hyuga be killed in Lightning? She'd been here since she was a baby; no one had ever tried to harm her. Sure she'd fallen when playing with other kids, but it wasn't like they had pushed her. She stared at him, wide eyes, and more than just a little fearful at this point.

"You – you live here with your father?" He looked shocked, dumbfounded, that she wasn't dead. _No, they wouldn't kill a female Hyuga. They'd turn her into breeding stock, letting every man take her just to make children with the Byakugan. Neji. I need to get a letter to Neji, ask him if he knew of any family in Lightning. No, I can't get in touch with anyone in Konoha, I left, I defected. I'm not a ninja from there anymore. Ah, damn, what do I do…_

Naruto walked away from Hinata, a shaking hand running through his blond hair, messing it further. She stared after his retreating for, and looked down, noticing the basket for what seemed to be the first time. A small 'eep' escaped her, causing him to turn to look at her. She was gathering the knife and wrapping it in that cloth he had seen earlier and placing it in the large, flower filled basket. She hefted it onto her left arm and stood, turning back towards the line of tree's she had emerged from. She glanced over her shoulder towards Naruto and nodded quickly. "Um, I n-need to get to w-work now, but y-you are more t-than welcome to follow me b-b-back to town if you'd like." She turned her head forward and started walking.

Naruto, in his own respect was a bit stunned. He'd just asked her why she wasn't dead, and she, for the most part, shrugged it off and stated she needed to go to work. _I can't just leave her now, I mean, what if something happens? Why do I care, I'm gonna be leaving soon anyways! But I do care, I may have left, but I'm still a Leaf shinobi. If Lightning gets the Byakugan, it would mean another war. Another war we –they can't handle. And she's just too sweet to be turned into breeding stock. She's not even a fighter; she wouldn't know how to protect herself!_

Beaten in his own mind, Naruto really only saw one option.

"Aw, shit…" he mumbled before taking off to follow Hinata through the trees.

_So, that's what I've got so far. Someone mentioned in a review of the first three chapters I re-published that they were "confused as to why a couple of Hyuga were in Lightning". When I saw this (and originally read it) I had an idea of where things would go from there, and now that I've adopted it, I can set the little plan I have into action. Don't worry, things will make sense. And be dramatic. I hope._

_Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my chapter of "Peace of Mind", please Review. It would be much appreciated. No, what is the term, flaming? Yeah, that one. Constructive criticism is more than welcome, but don't just say something like "Rly this r not a gud story". 1) Because that entire thing is just improper English and 2) That doesn't help me make it a better story. So. Yes._

_Thank you and have a wonderful day my dears! –Half _


	5. Chapter 5

_Well, chapter five of the adopted "Peace of Mind". OH GreatGoogilyMoogily, I saw how you had planned for it to go down, but really, I saw sort of a 'hiding in plain sight' sort of thing, just because the idea of Lightning actually getting Hyuga bits would lead to (Another) war, which no country is ready for. But I do have it as a very major plot idea. __  
_

_Anyways! Onto the story!_

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Naruto could only follow Hinata through the forest like a lost puppy, or fox. Did foxes follow people when they got lost? Probably not, but the idea fit him better. She would stop at times, to cut a flower or a fern or just some plant that seemed to interest her. Honestly, without knowing anything about plants, Naruto was more than just a little baffled. How was the branch from a Cherry Blossom Tree, or some, what had she called it, some Seeded Euch or whatever, supposed to make flower arrangements prettier? He could see the Cherry Blossom doing something, but the brown of the bark was just not something he would find attractive. And that seeded thingy was all green, and looked oily. He made a face as they walked further through the forest.

He found it hard to believe that he had made it this far last night in his drunken stupor. He was a pretty decent drunk, not including his temper, but that field had to be somewhere near two miles outside of town. Why would he walk that far just to fall asleep? Why that field?

He tied not to think of it as the young woman in front of him made a sudden right turn. Naruto followed, but couldn't help but start to bother her. "Hey Hinata-chan, where are we going now?"

If he had been in front of her, or even walking next to her, he would have seen a blush shoot up her cheeks. The first couple of times she hadn't noticed his very informal way of talking, and especially not the added '-chan' at the end of her name. But something he had said about the flowers and then asking her about some of the ferns she had gathered, she just sort of picked up on it. And it had embarrassed her to no end. If her father called her Hinata-chan, which he would do every so often, she would smile and speak with him as she worked. But this was a man she hardly knew, who was following her to the village she lived just outside of, talking to her as if they were old friends. And she, for the life of her, just couldn't get passed it.

"U-uzumaki-san, w-we're heading int-to town, I t-told you. U-um, there are shops a-and merchants, but I d-do apologize for how small it i-is, it really is j-just a small village, a-after all…" She kept herself faced forward, she knew if she looked into those eyes again, she probably wouldn't remain conscious for very long. She didn't know why, but those deep blue eyes just peered into you, probing your soul, your mind, for the information they wanted. _Well, he did say he was a shinobi, maybe it is one of those, oh my, what did father call them? Oh, yes, Jutsu? Yes, maybe it is one of those…_

"Hinata-chan! You don't have to call me Uzumaki-san; I'm not some super important person or something. If I was do you think I'd have fallen asleep in a field last night? Nope, I'd be in a fancy bed with pillows and blankets and other fancy things." He finished his own statement without waiting for her to respond. He seemed content with her silence, and she seemed content with letting him believe what he wanted. She wasn't just going to stop calling him Uzumaki-san. It wasn't proper.

Hinata moved through a line of tree just in front of Naruto, and for the brief second she was out of his sight he put himself on high alert. Rival ninja could be just beyond those trees, Lightning Ninja could be waiting to ambush her and steal her eyes.

_Or so much worse…_

Naruto jumped from the tree line and looked around. He was standing on a worn, if not slightly bumpy, dirt road. To his left he saw nothing but the road, which continued straight until either a turn in the road or just the distance itself took the rest out of his sight. To his right, he saw Hinata walking down the road, a small smile on her face as she looked at some of the greenery to her own right, the basket still hanging from her left arm. Naruto had to admit, the basket looked rather heavy, 10 pounds of flowers is still 10 pounds. Though he didn't think that the basket was anywhere near 10 pounds, he wasn't just going to make her carry it. If there was one thing Uzumaki Naruto was, it was chivalrous. And he would be until the day he died. Jogging to catch up to Hinata, he grabbed the basket and before she could protest he had snatched it up off her arm and away from her into his larger left hand.

"U-uzumaki-san!" Hinata started, trying to reach for the basket Naruto currently held out of her reach. She would grasp at it, only to have him move it out of her reach at the very last moment, leaving her to grip at nothing but air. Fairly flustered, she tried again to grab at it, only for him to hold it above his head. Arm completely outstretched, he smiled at his apparent victory. Even on her tip toes, with her own two arms outstretched, she couldn't quite reach it, her finger tips just barely gracing the bottom of the basket. "P-please, Uzumaki-san, b-be very careful!" Naruto looked down at the Hyuga female standing in front of him now, her hands clasped to her chest and her eyes gleaming with concern as she stared at the basket he held up.

Slowly he lowered the basket so that it hung by his side, her eyes following the movements all the while. Slowly her hands lowered back to her sides as well, and she moved to stand to his right, her head still bowed. Naruto, just a little concerned, nudged her a bit with his elbow.

"Heya, Hinata-chan, what's wrong? I didn't mean to upset you with the flowers, I mean –"

"I-i-it's alright Na- Uzumaki-san. I j-just… f-f-flowers can be so d-delicate…" She still refused to look at him, though he now understood why she was so worried. He didn't know how long it had taken her to gather all these flowers, but if someone had, even jokingly, nearly destroyed what took him so long to gather, or create, then he assumed he'd be upset too. And she almost called him Naruto. A troublemaking glint came to Naruto's eye, and a smile played at the corners of his lips. By the end of the day, he'd be sure to get her calling him Naruto. Just plain Naruto.

Because in his mind, flustering girls was a really funny game.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The rest of the walk to town had been rather uneventful by Naruto's standards. Hinata, on the other hand, had tried to maintain a cool head as Naruto walked so close to her, and attempted to answer questions he asked, like how many people lived in town. She had said she really didn't know, but that it couldn't be more than 100 or so people.

Naruto tensed as they neared what looked to be the village. Honestly, it seemed a lot different at night when you were drunk. What sobriety and sunshine could do…

"Hey, Hinata-chan?" Naruto started, keeping an eye out for trouble as they neared the entrance.

"Y-yes, Uzumaki-san?" She answered, blushing just a bit when he lowered his head to be closer to head as he spoke.

"This place, it isn't a ninja town is it?" Naruto was almost certain of the answer. Hell, if it was a ninja town, Hinata would be no better than a breeding mare, and her father would either be in the same boat or dead. He heard Hinata giggle a bit, and straightened up just to look down at her.

"N-no, Uzumaki-san, it is j-just a regular village. The p-p-people here farm a-and sell their goods, or are c-craftsmen and women who s-sell their wares. B-but there aren't any n-n-ninja." She gave him a shy look and smile before facing forwards again. Passing through the front, what Naruto grimaced at calling a gate, Hinata picked up her pace, avoiding carts and people going from store to store or stall to stall, looking for the things they needed to survive. She scooted past a mother with two children looking at some vegetables, and Naruto easily followed her. He would have jumped up and traveled by rooftop, but one thought kept from doing just that.

_If Lightning hears there is a ninja in one of their non-ninja villages, they may send someone to investigate, and if they do that, then someone will see Hinata, and in turn her eyes. Damn it, I didn't want to stay anywhere for too long. But I can't leave her. Shit…_

Naruto followed Hinata to the front of a small one story building, a simple sign hanging from the door with 'Hinata' written in kanji. Naruto smiled. Either she was more conceited than she looked, or someone loved her very much. She took a key out from a chain around her neck, a chain Naruto only just noticed and stared at, and unlocked the door, quickly sliding inside. She stopped and held to door for him, smiling when he entered uneasily.

The building was small, maybe 20 by 30 feet, with a long counter separating the front portion of the store from the back portion. Behind that counter Naruto could see a work bench along the left wall, with a few more knives on it. Through he knew she wasn't a ninja, he also knew that all those knives could spell trouble for her if anyone came here looking for it.

But those were not the most impressive things he saw. The entirety of the back work area was filled, and he was sure this wasn't an exaggeration, with flowers. Not just one or two large baskets anymore. Big buckets, filled with what he assumed was water, sat on the ground and on the work bench. He saw long flowers with multiple pink blooms on the end, and some that looked yellow, but also seemed chartreuse. There were large, blue flowers with yellow in the center, and some that looked like the ones Hinata had cut out in the field.

Naruto couldn't help but look from the large buckets to the petite Hinata slowly making her way to the back of the store. He did a visual one once over of her arms, how they looked so frail and small, but when she moved to pull the door in the front counter that separated the front from the back, he saw the wiry muscles move beneath that creamy pale skin of hers. And he gulped.

"Hey Hinata-chan?"

"Y-yes Uzumaki-san?"

"Did you, you know, gather all of these flowers? I mean, did you get them all today?"

Hinata hid a small laugh behind her hand and she went to the first big bucket on the work bench. "N-no, Uzumaki-san, I d-didn't gather t-them today. T-t-these I had gotten o-over the last few days of c-c-cutting and such." Her small hands went to the rim of the bucket, and carefully, she slid it towards her from the table, and when it was near the edge, she hugged it to her body and picked it up.

Naruto couldn't lie, it looked heavy. The buckets had to be about a foot and a half tall and to have even one third of that filled with water would be pretty heavy. From what he could hear in her small movements, the bucket had to be near half filled, plus the added weight of the flowers. Now, he seemed to have a little more respect for Yamanaka Ino and her family. If those things sounded half as heavy as they were, the Hinata as a non-ninja was probably still very strong.

_Not strong enough to fight of a ninja._

Naruto again scolded himself for going down the same line of thinking. He knew he needed to figure something out, and figure it out soon. She said she lived here with her father. Maybe, if he spoke to her father, he could figure out why he would move here.

_Just maybe._

He stopped his thoughts and cast a large smile over his face. "Hey Hinata-chan! Let me help you!" He made his way over; through the door to the back she had opened and placed the now seemingly tiny basket of flowers on the work bench. He made his way over to Hinata as she was placing the bucket on the other side of the back room, on the floor. Again, Naruto's masculine side couldn't help but notice the nice way her back curved into that luscious rear of hers. He felt his face heat up a bit, and he turned away, crossing his arms. He would have snorted, or done something go take his mind off that wonderfully round -

_Ah, gods damn it! Stop! Right now. Think about something else, kunai! That's a good one! Kunai were developed to be thrown close to mid-range, though they can make the long range attacks with relative ease. They –_

Hinata, on her own, had finished placing the bucket down and stood, turning to face Naruto. His back was to her, and her shoulders seemed tensed. She wondered if something was bothering him. Maybe he was upset that she didn't let him help her? Or maybe she was taking up his valuable time by having him stay? She watched his shoulders do a small jump, then tense, then slowly relax. She made her way over quietly.

"U-u-uzumaki-san?" Nothing from the blond man before her. "U-uzumaki-san?" Again, nothing. Slowly, the reached out with her left hand to lightly tap on his shoulder. He jumped again, and spun to face her. She was startled, her pupil less eyes wide and a small blush on her cheeks. The hand she had moved out retracted and came to her chest, and Naruto just smiled wide at her

"Sorry Hinata-chan. I was just…thinking. What did you need?" He peered at her, leaning down a little to try and mask the height difference, though he really doubted that he could or that she minded.

Hinata ducked her head and spoke very quietly, Naruto needed to lean in just a bit closer to hear her. "U-u-um, I w-was going to s-say that you d-don't need to st-stay here anymore. U-um, you helped me c-carry the basket back and t-that was very s-s-sweet of you, so you d-don't need to stay here w-when you could be doing s-something else." Her voice seemed to shrink on her, no matter how hard she tried to speak louder or clearer, her voice would get quieter and quieter with each stuttered word.

"Aaaww, Hinata-chan! Are you kicking me out?" Her head shot up to look at Naruto. He had leaned back, away from her, but peered at her with the blue eyes and he seemed to be making a, was that a pouty face? His eyebrows were gathered in towards the bridge of his nose, and his eyes were squinted to the looked almost shut. His bottom lip stuck out and his mouth held the graceful curve of a frown.

And Hinata thought it was the funniest, cutest thing she had ever seen. She slowly started to giggle, her shoulders moving up and down to the soft laugh. Her hand came up to cover her mouth as her laughing grew more, from soft giggles to chuckles of joy. Her other arm came across her chest as she began to laugh harder, being unable to control herself. She was bent over at the waist a bit, towards Naruto, her eyes closed in laughter with small tears in the corners. Her body shook as she laughed and her hand came from her mouth to wrap around her chest to hold herself somewhat decent. Her mouth was open, and the sound of her laughter filled the entire shop. It surrounded Naruto, who had opened his eyes and straightened up to look at Hinata. That laughter, like a hundred bells on a clear summer day, like the sun appearing from behind clouds after a rainstorm, like a, like a, like other things Naruto couldn't quite think of. All he thought was that that laugh rivaled Tsunade's laughter. Where she could be loud, and you would hear it across the village Hinata's laughter, well, it was the kind that made you laugh too.

So he did. Naruto laughed with her, and he didn't know why. He felt the laughter from in his stomach, and he let it slide from his mouth to join with Hinata's in the air.

After a while, Hinata's laugher subsided, drifting down to regain composure at giggling. Naruto smiled at her and scratched the back of his head. "So, Hinata-chan, you didn't answer my question…"

Hinata smiled up at Naruto, a slight blush tinting her cheeks again.

"No, Naruto-san, I'm not kicking you out."

Naruto's kind smile turned foxy, just a glint of mischief in it, before he pumped his fist into the air with a semi-loud 'whoop!'.

"Alright Hinata-chan! Put me to work!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_So, that's chapter 5. Sorry it took a while, and sorry it may not be what people were expecting, I have had the worst case of writers block (I know, it's stupid) and I've been incredibly busy planning out a recording trip for a band. I'm helping produce a CD for them, and we need a week away to do it. I'm going to try and bring a laptop and a flash drive so that I can continue working on this while I am away, and hopefully post a new chapter too. It's already in the making._

_So, as many say, review. It makes me happy to see that people read this. _


	6. Chapter 6

_Teehee, it's me, HalfLidded. : ) Here to post another chapter. Thank you for everyone who reviewed the last chapter that I wasn't so pleased with. It made me feel better. And thank you for the good wishes on the CD, it really was sweet of you. The band actually did really well; they only thought that they would be able to record 3 or 4 songs just to make an EP. Well, they pushed out 7, not including one solo song. So again, thank you all, much appreciation. : )_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto had never heard the names of so many flowers before in his life. Whenever Ino had tried to tell him things, he either just ignored her or he whined until she stopped. She'd always give up with a dejected sigh and tell him that someday, he'd be sorry he didn't listen to her.

Right now, he was.

After asking Hinata what she would need help with, she set out a list of things, grabbing buckets of _cornflower_ or _Drummond phlox_ or even more strange names. Naruto had stared at Hinata, blinking a few times before uttering a very intelligent 'huh?'

Hinata had learned then and there that Naruto, like most people, didn't actually know the names of flowers. He just knew them by what they looked like. She'd have to work with him like he was a customer. A slightly clumsy, slightly hyperactive, and very outspoken customer.

"Hinata-chan, I don't even know what a Fire Wheel is!" Naruto explained for the fifth time. Hinata, who had always described herself as being fairly patient, was starting to wonder if hers would wear thin.

"N-naruto-san, please listen. T-the flower looks l-like a pinwheel, m-maybe an i-inch and a half a-across. It h-has a d-dark red c-center, and red f-f-fanning out f-from there. T-the tips o-of the petals are y-yellow and appear s-s-serrated. The l-leaves look serrated t-too." Hinata worked as she spoke; using the sharp knife she had with her earlier to cut the stems at a 45 degree angle. She placed them once she had finished into the buckets of the same flowers, and much to his chagrin, Naruto couldn't for his life figure out how she memorized them. But he would help, he said he would.

And this gave him more time to study her, something he thought he needed to do. He had given up the life he had been living until just this morning.

As he wandered around the back room, looking for the flowers she had described, he thought over what had happened. He woke up to her humming. He saw he was a Hyuga. Well, no first he saw that she had a fine ass, then he found she was a Hyuga. Feh, semantics. Then, then he had followed her. Against his better judgment and common sense, he stayed longer than was necessary in Lightning. And he'd be staying for a while by the looks of it.

_Unless I can convince her father to move them away from here. Preferably back to the Leaf. Avoid wars and reunite the Hyuga. Well, reunite if the Main Hyuga Branch knows that there are two stray family members out here._

On that thought, Naruto froze. Main Family. Branch Family. Just what the hell would happen to Hinata and her father if they were to return to Konoha? It seemed highly unlikely to Naruto that the Main family would accept them into their ranks, regardless of the pull Naruto may still have with Tsunade. They were a founding family; they ran by their own rules. Neji and Naruto got along pretty well, but just because he was the next heir didn't mean he could persuade the council.

His eyes ran along a row of buckets, filled with flowers of ranging colors. Oranges, yellows, reds, blues, some purple. Slightly clouded blue eyes, filled with worry and uncertainty only half glanced at them. Man, had he worked himself into a corner. His long, calloused fingers reached out to gently trace the petals of one flower. It was soft, silky against his finger tips. He wondered, for a brief second, if Hinata's skin was this soft after spending her whole life around these petals as soft as clouds.

_Wait a second…_

Inch and a half across. Dark red center. Red petals. Yellow tips. Serrated edges. A check below the flowers confirmed for him, serrated leaves. A large, goofy grin broke out across Naruto's face.

"Hey Hinata-chan! I found them, -ttebayo!" Naruto grabbed the bucket and rushed over to her. "You were right, they look like pinwheels! Ooh, and they are pretty…" He held the bucket up to her face as she turned, gaining a surprised 'eep' from her. A slight blush burnished her cheeks and she smiled sincerely at him.

"T-thank you Naruto-san! Now, I n-need you to f-find me some c-crimson clover and the b-b-blazing star I cut t-today." He blinked a couple times. And all over town, people stopped their work and looked around to the upset voice that filled the air.

"Aw, Hinata-chan! I gotta find more?"

** XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto watched Hinata close the shop door with quiet intensity. Honestly, it hadn't been too long of a day. After he found that he'd had for search for more than one flower at a time, he decided that some Shadow Clones would be in his best interest. Hinata, for the most part, had been stunned out of her pretty little sandals when he had done that. To go from one Naruto to 6 in half a second was a little more than the shy young woman could handle. Knife in hand, and face painted a nice red, Hinata's pale eyes rolled to the back of her lids and she fainted, dead on the spot. Needless to say, Naruto felt a sense of panic take over him when she fell back. Two clones rushed forward to grab her, while Naruto himself ran up to grab her wrist, taking the small knife from her hands as the clones held her up. His blue eyes wide, he placed the knife on a table, and then looked around.

"Hey Boss, whadda we do if someone walks in?" one of the clones said as he squinted and scratched the back of his head. Naruto raised his eyes too look at the clone, the lowered his head back down to look at Hinata.

"Anyone know how to wake a sleeping girl?" He asked. All the clones shook their heads at the same moment. Naruto look up again. "Well, damn…"

Naruto was lucky, she hadn't stayed out for more than a few moments, and no one had walked in looking for her. She had slowly come too, and after getting her surroundings and blushing madly, the stuttered an apology. Since then, she had been relatively quiet, only giving him instruction and direction when he needed it, and keeping the conversations quiet. When customers came in, he dispelled the clones, and when they left he summoned some again. He searched for the flowers she would describe and help her carry buckets; he would cut flowers or take down things she asked from the higher places she couldn't quite reach.

Naruto, maybe a little bored, took contentment in doing these small things. It was how he found himself outside this small shop, in the middle of Lightning country, looking down the road that had darkened considerably as the sun set over the small village. It was also how he found himself again try to start up a conversation with the shy Hinata, a blush ever painting her cheeks.

"Hey Hinata-chan, why are you so quiet?" He asked as she placed her key back round her neck. She jumped a small bit, and turned to look up and smile at him.

"I-I'm not t-that quiet, I'm j-just a little m-more soft spoken t-than most people." She smiled kindly and looked forward, picking the large basket from the morning off of the ground and placing it on her left arm. She slowly began walking forward, and not knowing what else to do, Naruto followed. He quickly caught up to her and fell into step beside her. He slowly placed his hands in his pockets and looked up at the star dotted sky above him. After a few moments of silence, Hinata quietly spoke up from her place next to him.

"Um, N-naruto-san?" She began shyly.

Naruto's head dropped down, and he looked over at her. Her head was set straight, and her eyes pointed forward. The light moonlight that was beginning to drift over the tree tops graced her hair and the side of her face. Where it touched her hair, darker blues and some very slight indigo stood out from the inkiness that was her hair. Where it touched her face, the flesh beneath it looked creamy. When she didn't continue though, Naruto pushed her right shoulder a little bit with his arm.

"Yeah Hinata-chan?" His hands still rested in his pockets and he set his gaze forward.

She chewed her lip, something he had seen her do when she got a little nervous. "Um, why a-are you following m-me?" When he didn't answer after a few seconds, Hinata panicked "I m-mean I don't m-mean to offend y-you, Naruto-s-san, i-it's just – it's just there is a-an inn in town a-and there might b-be some p-people there who could, y-you know, talk with you? O-or maybe y-you want to s-sleep? I m-mean thank you f-for all your held t-today, it was v-very much appreciated and e-everything. But y-you must be tired, mustn't you? I-I'm very s-sorry for wearing you out Naru-"

"Hey, Hinata-chan?" Naruto suddenly cut her off. His eyes were facing the sky again, drifting over the stars. Hinata 'eep'd once more and looked at him. His hair seemed pale in the darkness, as if muted by the shadows. His eyes, still as blue as ever, shined a different way than when she had seen them in the sun. They too, looked slightly muted, but somehow as bright as the stars he was staring at. He didn't really wait to hear her confirmation that she heard him. He seemed to understand when the small noise she made filled his ears. "Do you, you know, not like me? 'Cause if you don't I'm sorry." He stopped for a second and considered his next words. "And, I was really hoping that I could speak to your father. Just to ask him a few things. Then I'll probably go, and get out of your hair." He looked back down at her and gave her a kind smile. The all too familiar heat started rising to her cheeks again.

"N-no, Naruto-san! Its n-not that I d-don't like you, I j-just thought you'd w-want a little more c-conversation tonight!" She froze and nibbled her lip a little bit once more and looked forward. "I'm n-not sure what F-father will say about someone v-visiting so late, a-and unannounced, but I b-believe he'll u-understand this t-time." She spoke slowly.

Naruto nodded and made a noise of understanding in his throat as his eyes drifted back up to the stars. Hinata couldn't help but feel that he looked sad, as if something was bothering him.

Naruto couldn't honestly think of a way to make Hinata's father move back to the Leaf, and keep word of a Hyuga in Lightning away from as many ears as possible. The rest of the walk was quiet and dark, and the moon slowly began its arc over the trees.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The first thing Naruto noticed about the small house that Hinata lived in was that for a one story home, it looked decent. It didn't stand more than 10 feet tall, yet the side seemed to extend a good 20 feet across, and maybe 15 back. It was a good size for someone like Hinata, not too big but not too small. Hinata walked up to the front step, just elevating the home a few inches off the ground, and Naruto quietly followed her. She moved up to the door and gently pushed it open, slipping in and holding it for Naruto. He ghosted in behind her and watched as she closed the door and took of f her sandals. He followed suit, slipping his worn shoes off and slowly padding down the hallway behind Hinata. She turned left, and Naruto followed her into a well lit room.

A fire sat crackling in an open hearth fire place with a large pot hanging over it. There were chairs seated in front of it, just two, one slightly further back than the other. In the chair that had its back to the doorway, Naruto could see a figure sitting. The top half of the head was visible. Long dark hair, slightly colored with grays. The light danced before his chair, and Naruto was stuck between making the first move and letting Hinata speak.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Hiashi had been sitting for the better part of the last hour, waiting for Hinata to get home and ask what she wanted for dinner. He had a fairly eventful day out in the gardens, picking what he could. He wished though, that he could get out and hunt for more than just fish, or occasionally a small rabbit. He couldn't help his old age though, and he would never teach Hinata to take a life. He hoped he could take care of her until a man came along and stole her heart, and then she could be a loving wife for that man, and he could get her more than just fish.

When he had heard the first small steps outside the front of the home, he mad smiled to himself. Very soon, his lovely daughter would be safe home, and all would be well for one more day. The lines around his eyes giving away his age crinkled as he smiled to himself. When the door opened, and then closed, he had the briefest thought to stand, but decided against it. It had been a fruitful day out in the small garden, but that didn't mean in came without cost. His knees and hips were hurting as they almost always did. But he'd rarely tell his daughter, and worry her with such trivial things. So he continued to stay seated, as Hinata worked her way from the front to the small living room.

In his old age, Hiashi couldn't always judge things as soundly as he could when he was younger. But there were two things he was certain of at this moment. His lovely daughter Hinata was not alone as she neared the room he was in. And she was moving with a shinobi following her. Hiashi tensed, almost ready to react to whatever came at him. He knew he wouldn't hold off a full attack for long, but just long enough to tell Hinata to run and hide somewhere, that was all the time he needed. But she wasn't a trained shinobi, he reminded himself. Her running would only be so much against a real ninja. Hiashi prayed that whatever happened, his dear daughter would be safe.

He listened to her small feet pad down the hallway, and make the turn to enter the living area. Silently, he activated his Byakugan, hoping whoever was here wouldn't notice the spike in chakra in the room. He enhanced vision drifted over his daughter, checking for any injury. In his colorless vision, she appeared fine. No wounds, nothing. He looked over the man who stood behind her, and just to her right. He was tall, at least a half a foot taller than his Hinata, and he was built well. Muscular, but not so big that he was a hindrance to himself. He had worked hard to make his body a lethal weapon. His skin was tanned from the sun, and his clothes looked dirty and worn. His hair was disheveled around his head and face, and he seemed to be studying the back of Hiashi's head very intently.

_We shall see soon what your intentions are, young ninja. And then we shall see if my daughter ever see's your face again._

He noticed Hinata's eyes land on him as well, and she slowly made her way over to place the basket she used to gather flowers by the hearth. Hiashi blinked away his Byakugan and watched her as she stood and faced him.

"Father, t-there is someone here I w-would like y-you to meet. His n-name is –"

"Naruto Uzumaki, sir." Naruto rounded the chair along with Hinata to look at Hiashi as he spoke. He noticed the man's eyes first, definitely a Hyuga, and then the lines around his eyes. Across his face, his age was spelled out in wrinkles, some less visible than others. Naruto let his right hand rise to be level with Hiashi's chest, only to have Hiashi regard it rather coldly.

"Uzumaki-san, am I correct in my assumption that you are a ninja?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at Hiashi, and then relaxed. Why did he think he'd be able to hide anything form a Hyuga? They were living lie detectors. Hiashi continued to stare at Naruto impassively, as if his presence was neither concerning nor important.

Naruto decided that an answer was much in order. "Yeah, you could say I am. Am I correct in assuming you are a lost Hyuga in Lightning?" At this, Hiashi's eyes widened and he slowly made a move to stand.

He wasn't taller than Naruto, but since he had turned 17 no one really was. He stood only a few inches below Naruto, but he seemed to radiate the confidence his daughter so severely lacked. He eyes were cold and calculating, running up and down Naruto's body before assessing him safe for now. Hiashi strode out from the chair and to Hinata. He took her delicate hand in his own and led her out of the living room.

"Hinata, dear, would you be so kind as to get your dear father some tea? And possibly bring some for our guest as well? Thank you, love, now carry on." With a kind smile, Hiashi led her to the hall and let her hand go. A kind smile graced his face as he watched her walked away before returning to Naruto.

"You would do well to hold your tongue in my home, Uzumaki." Hiashi's eyes again were cold on his face. Naruto was no longer keen to being spoken to so unkindly.

"Listen, old man, I don't know how you found yourself in Lightning, but as a Hyuga, that is not only dangerous to you _and_ your daughter, but it could start a war between Leaf and Lightning. You don't want that, do you?" Naruto cocked his head to the side as he looked over Hiashi's standing form. His clothes were clean and neatly mended; he was resting this evening in a light kimono. His hands, though scrubbed, had dirt beneath the finger nails. He had worked in the soil, tilling and weeding and planting.

His body was old and worn, but he was strong. He moved with a slight limp on his left side, as if in pain. Naruto was no master of the Byakugan, but he knew that though this man had once been a ninja, he no longer could do the physical things needed of him in the line of duty.

_I wonder how his Jutsu are though…_

Hiashi was no accustomed to being spoken too so, so, so infuriatingly! His daughter was respectful, the people he spoke to were respectful, how was it that this kid was able to just speak to him to informally and how no issues with it. Hiashi heaved a sigh of discontent.

"Uzumaki, why are you here and what do you want with my daughter? Where do you hail from, unknown ninja? And why should I not be worried of you?" Naruto again regarded him rather warily. He didn't know a Leaf ninja when he saw one? True he wasn't wearing his hitai-ate, and sure he had no distinguishing marks of being a leaf shinobi, but come on! Once and ninja, always a ninja!

"Well, I've got to say, I'm a little sad you don't recognize brethren. But then again, it's been a while since you were in Konoha, am I right? I'm here because I stumbled out of a bar drunkenly at some point very early in the morning and decided that falling asleep on a bunch of flowers was the best thing in the world for me to do. So I did. And then, at what I can only assume is the ass crack of dawn, I woke up with a hangover and someone humming. Turns out, your daughter has a beautiful voice. She led me back to town and I helped her out at the flower shop. And then we came back here, because I told her I needed to speak to you. I am a ninja of Konoha, a place you once hailed from yourself, though I don't associate with them anymore, I guess I… defected, and a while ago. I don't want anything but a word with you, and I'm not a threat. If I was going to hurt Hinata, I would have done it before I brought her home. Don't you think?" Naruto had moved from his place in front of the chair Hiashi had been sitting in to the wall next to the hearth. Small trinkets hung from nails and such, small pictures were placed wherever they were seen fit. Naruto saw one of a beautiful woman holding a small baby. Her eyes were kind, and bright with laughter. She looked so much like Hinata.

_Though, it could be more that Hinata looks more like her, if it's her mother…_

Hiashi continued to regard Naruto rather coolly. He honestly could do nothing more than trust the boy, since it seemed he had been truthful in his entire speech. He didn't need to have his Byakugan activated to see the pain written clearly in the boys' blue eyes. He had suffered a great loss, and those were the kind that took the longest to heal. Hiashi knew of this pain, he had felt it when he had lost his dear wife, the mother of his child.

"F-father, I hope e-everything is going all right, I w-w-wouldn't want to see anyone upset here, w-we can all be kind, r-right?" Hinata entered the room with a tray, some cups and a tea pot balanced deftly on it as she walked. Naruto looked up and over and her, before moving forward to take the tray form her. She watched his movements and stood still after he took the tray from her. She followed him quietly as he moved to the small table that separated the two chairs in front of the fire. He sat the tray down, and motioned for Hinata to take the seat her father had not been occupying when they had entered. She did so, and he poured some tea, handing her the cup before moving back to the pictures and items on the wall and above the fire.

Hiashi watched the small interaction between his daughter and this ninja. It was strange; did he not just say they met that morning? Hinata left early, before Hiashi normally awoke, to gather flowers. Would that not mean that she had met this ninja before he had woken up? And why was she so comfortable around him?

Hinata, for the most part, could not help the mad blush that had erupted on her face from Naruto's slight actions. She normally handed the tea out, made sure her father was comfortable before she sat herself. In Naruto's case, she would have brought a chair for him to sit as well. But he made no move to sit, as if the action itself bothered him. Beneath her lowered bangs she snuck a peak at him. He was facing away from her, looking at the pictures above the mantle. His jacket looked even more worn in the dim light of the fire that it had earlier in the day.

The realization made Hinata 'eep', and both Naruto and Hiashi spun to look at her

She stared at them both with wide eyes and a slightly darker blush painting her cheeks.

"F-forgive me, I j-just noticed that N-naruto-san's clothing is v-very dirty. A-and worn! I s-should have asked if you w-wanted a set so change i-into, so that I c-could clean and f-fix the set you are wearing!" Naruto bunched his eyebrows together in confusion, and Hinata could not help but this it was once again one of his more adorable faces. Quickly, she recovered. "I m-mean, as repayment, f-f-for helping me o-out at the shop t-today!"

Naruto would have laughed at how she tried to save the comments she made, if he didn't think that it was the kindest thing someone had ever offered him. Sure he had done missions and received payment for them, but that was because they were required to pay him. They never did it just because they wanted too. And Old Man Teuchi did give him a couple free bowls of ramen, but it never did much, considering how much he ate. Especially how much ramen he ate.

And all he had done was wake up after a night of drinking as she gathered flowers.

"Uzumaki-san, I believe my daughter is correct. You have helped her today, and for that we are both grateful. Allow me to offer the house we live in to you for a few days, and allow my daughter to mend your clothing. She may seem shy and quiet, but she will not let this go. She'll want to repay you. In the meantime, if it doesn't sit well with you to do nothing, you can either go again with her to the shop and continue to help, or you could stay here and help me with the gardening." Naruto's eyes drifted over to Hiashi. This man was doubting him, and suddenly all right with him staying in his house, and Naruto could not have been more confused. What did he do, say yes and stay? Say no and run the hell away?

He knew he couldn't do that. One day, and he'd already promised himself that he would get them out of Lightning and place them somewhere with less danger to their eyes. And lives. And general well being. Naruto was getting a headache thinking so much.

"Uh-"

"It is settled then! Uzumaki-san, you will stay here and help out where you can, and Hinata will mend your items. Please, relax and enjoy the rest. Someone as road weary as you must need it." Hiashi turned away to face his sitting daughter. "Hinata, my child, what would you have planned for dinner this evening? I have what was gathered from the garden, but I am most sorry, I could not go out fishing today. These old bones are just –"

"I'll do it." Naruto cut in. "I need to go out for a bit anyways, just to get some air. You can get things started here, Hinata-chan, if you want. I'll get enough fish to last you a week, trust me!" He flashed a grin that again made Hinata blush before he headed towards the door again. Hiashi kissed his daughters head lightly before he moved behind Naruto.

"Uzumaki-san." Naruto turned and looked at Hiashi. Why wouldn't this guy just pick what he wanted to do, talk or not? "I sense you have many questions-"

"Well, yeah."

"- and I will be more than willing to answer them. But not in front of my daughter. I spent a good amount of time hiding things from her, and I would like some of the naivety she has to stay that way. We can talk later, after she has gone to bed." Hiashi regarded Naruto for another few moments before returning to the living room. He watches as Hinata exited after her father had entered, flashing him a small smile before heading towards what he believed to be the kitchen.

Naruto turned and walked out the door, closing it slowly and quietly behind him. Fishing was not his only plan tonight. There were people to be contacted, and a small amount of time to do it in.

****

_ Bleh. Chapter 6. Took forever to pump out. Don't ask me why, it just did. Every time I got around to writing just got this foreboding sense of writers block and my mind went 'I do not love you!' and would not allow me to write. But now I've been writing some poetry and lyrics and that's gotten the ball on a roll. For now at least. I need some ibuprofen. And milk. Remember, I know my updates have sucked, but please read and review, it makes me smile to see what you say. : )_


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7. Please enjoy. : )_

****

Naruto couldn't say if he was going the right way, but he didn't think to ask where the river was before he left. Maybe it was the need to get out to there to think, maybe it was the creepy way Hiashi spoke and flip-flopped in his actions towards Naruto, maybe it was the half smile Hinata had thrown him.

Why would that make him run again?

He step over a fallen log and stopped to listen. No sound of running water, just the light peep of crickets and cicada's in the fading light. He sat on the log for a second, before crossing his fingers and summoning a few clones.

"What's up boss!" One threw out while the other two looked around in the dim forest.

"Aw," anther started "where's Hinata-chan, she didn't come?"

Naruto stared at his clones before shaking his head. "No, she stayed back at the house to start dinner. I've got to get fish. Which is why you guys are here. I need you to find a lake or a river and start fishing while I get in contact with Konoha. It isn't going to be fun, so you guys have the better part of the deal. Now, go!" At his word the clones ran off, eyes and ear open for the sound of water and animals.

Naruto stood for a moment as his clones disappeared into the steadily darkening woods, contemplating his next actions.

_I said I wouldn't go back._

He lifted his right hand up to his face and placed it over his eyes. He let out a deep sigh and dropped his hand.

_I didn't want to go back._

His eyebrows narrowed and his eyes slimmed.

_This needs to be done, though._

A few quick hand signs and a flare of chakra later, Naruto was well on his way to Konoha.

"Hiraishin no Jutsu."

Sometimes, when Naruto used the flash, he felt like he was flying. He thought he was overlooking all the things he passed by. Sometimes, he felt like he was being dragged through water or mud. And sometimes, he didn't feel anything. Like he had blinked, and when his eyes opened he was suddenly somewhere else.

The current somewhere being on top of the 4th Hokage's head, found in the mountains that cradled Konoha's west city. High above the streets and homes, high above the people he protected.

At some point, if he wasn't in a rush and didn't want to be here as much as he did, he needed to look out over that view again, just to be reminded that truly beautiful things do exist. He looked over the edge of his father's carved head, and guessed the distance between himself and his target. Straight jump, right below him. He couldn't tell if he wanted her to be awake or asleep. Awake meant he wouldn't piss her off by waking her, but asleep meant slower reaction time.

She was probably awake.

With a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, Naruto took a few steps back, before running and jumping from the cliff face.

At first, the warm wind brushing by Naruto's cheeks lulled him into a sense of security. It seemed strange; he had reappeared back in Konoha, and not a single Anbu had tried to take him. Maybe Grandma had told them to leave him alone. She was being smart then. He didn't want to assault people from his own village.

His eyes constantly surveyed his surroundings as he dropped towards the rooftop below him. He had done this so many times, it was like second nature. As he drew closer, he rotated his feet more steadily below him, his arms came out from his sides slightly, and his shoulders tensed.

The initial impact was fine, he felt his feet touchdown on the solid concrete and at first he thought he'd be able to get in without too much commotion. The resulting exchange of force though, threw his whole plan off kilter.

Debris flew from the rooftop, pieces of wood and concrete fell to the empty streets below. A cloud of dust and smaller particles flew up from the epicenter of the crash. After seemed eerily quiet, even to Naruto's still ringing ears. Until, that is, the very loud footsteps of someone running up the stairs, a crash on a landing somewhere, and the loud bang of a door being ripped off its hinges came to him.

He was then fearful that his impromptu plan was just a little too underdeveloped.

The distinct noise of the door behind him being kicked down came to his attention, and he turned just in time to see the green piece of wood fly towards his face.

"Naruto you idiot!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Naruto, why don't you tell me what's going on, I need to know if this involves my shinobi, active or not." Naruto shot Tsunade what he thought was a look of 'nothin' doin' to his adoptive grandmother as he sat holding a small bag of ice to his forehead. She sat behind her desk, calmed down, with a cup of sake in her left hand. Her right massaged the small bridge of her nose before settling on the desk as well. He blue eyes stared into Naruto's, and he couldn't help but push a renegade smile.

"Ah, Baa-chan, just wait for Neji. He'll be here shortly."

"I still don't understand what could be so important you made me send out Anbu to retrieve Neji at this hour. I'm sure he's sleeping, like I was before your loud-ass went and broke my roof." Naruto's hand rubbed the back of his head and he shot her a shy glance. With his eyes still downcast, Tsunade studied him. He looked relatively the same, maybe just a bit skinnier and only slightly dirtier. He looked haggard, something she knew came from being on the road too long and not under a roof often enough. Jiraiya carried it a lot, when no one was looking. Her thoughts saddened.

But, she did notice, something was different. Something was there that hadn't been there for a while. She couldn't quite name it, couldn't quite place it, but knew it. Maybe she'd find out when Neji got here.

In the mean time, she reached down, opening up a drawer. She slipped her hand inside and pulled out two more shallow sake cups. Placing them on the table, she downed the one in her hand and poured the three out. She slid one across the desk to Naruto, he stuck his hand out and grabbed it, swinging it back fast. He had to say, it burned sweetly down his throat. Man, it was nice.

He watched as she downed her cup and refilled it. He didn't hand his back to her, opting to hold it in his hand and rub it with his thumb. It was smooth porcelain, so soft to the touch, and deceivingly cold. His eyes drifted over the white cup, over his dirty fingers.

_Man, do I need a bath…_

Dirt was layered over his skin, he knew Tsunade noticed. He wasn't too concerned when she didn't say anything. He figured she understood. Green lined under his fingernails, and for the briefest second he was confused. Until he remembered his day. All day with plants, flowers and ferns and grasses and stains, just about everywhere. On his hands, his pants, his shirt. He thought of running to his old apartment, while he picked at the tattered and frayed ends of his top, and grabbing some clothes.

Why did he think he still had an apartment?

He looked back up to Tsunade to see her staring at him somewhat worriedly. Concern flitted across her forehead, and her hands were folded under her chin.

"Y'know, you almost look like a Hokage like that." Naruto quipped at her. He noticed the twitch of her eye just in time to doge the now empty sake bottle flying at his face. He sat back up, eyes wide and mouth hanging just slightly open, to stare at Tsunade.

She had the wickedest smirk on her face. Naruto pouted, squinting his eyes at her, and her hands dropped from beneath her chin and onto the table.

"You know, it may be easier if you just tell me what's going on. I haven't seen you so thoughtful and resigned in… well, ever." Naruto's expression changed, softened a little bit, before he looked back up.

"Naw, I've really gotta wait for Neji, y'know. You'll understand when he gets here."

"It would appear that it is not a necessity to wait for me any longer, Naruto-san." Neji stated, closing the door as silently as he had opened it, and stepping in to take a seat next to Naruto. "What brings you back to Konoha; I heard you had left for an… extended amount of time. No reason given." At this, he looked over at Tsunade, who shook her head and waved it off. "And," his impassive eyes darted back to Naruto, "you had better have a good reason for waking me up at this time Naruto-san. I have delegations tomorrow which require my unwavering attendance."

Naruto never was a fan for the way Neji spoke, as if everything he said had to be grammatically and politically correct. As if he had to be perfect. Maybe it was a Hyuga thing. Hinata didn't talk like that, neither did her father. Well, her father kinda did. He was also bipolar or something.

HINATA!

Naruto whipped around to face Neji, a serious look on his face.

"Hyuga."

Neji cocked an eyebrow, regarding the man before him.

"Yes, I am a Hyuga, get on with it."

"No, no, no," Naruto started shaking his head, "I found a Hyuga. Two. In Lightning. I don't know how they got there, I don't know why they are, but I found them."

Tsunade sat up, looking Naruto over quickly. "This is something you didn't think you needed to tell me before? Only two Hyuga? Where in Lightning, do they appear to be part of a group or clan, are they ninja?" She slowly poured herself another glass of sake and sipped it, pointing to the third for Neji. He shook his head at her before looking back at Naruto.

"Naruto, if they are not members of the Konoha Main Branch, they must be eliminated. Lightning cannot possess the Byakugan. That is the only thing that matters."

"No, wait, hold on, too many things." Naruto shook his hands out before him. "No, they aren't ninja, at least the youngest isn't. There's a father and a daughter. She's about my age, no shinobi training, the father does. But he's older, injured from something. There is no wife, it appears she died years ago. He ran from Konoha, he hasn't told me why, though he said he talk with me tonight. That's why I came here. Neji," Naruto looked over at him, "if I can convince them to come back, what would happen."

Neji thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Honestly, I have no idea. Best case scenario, the daughter is married to one of the Elder's grandchildren to ensure that she stays connected to the clan. Worst case, we kill them. They are from Lightning; we cannot trust a Hyuga from Lightning. They could be trained ninja, and you are too unobservant to see." Naruto narrowed his eyes at Neji, who conceded. "If you brought them back, I may be able to convince the Elders not to have them executed. But I would need the backing of the Hokage –"

"Which I could only give if I took them each alone and interviewed them, and I could not guarantee that the Council would want me to be kind." Tsunade cut in.

"– correct, and they would not have the option of being in the main family. Not even the daughter. They would be branded with the Caged Bird Seal and live with the Branch Family to serve and protect the Main Family until they died."

Naruto looked between Tsunade and Neji, before he sighed.

"Somehow, I don't think that's what they are looking for. The daughter doesn't even know of the discord between Leaf and Lightning. As far as I can tell, she doesn't know why her eyes are different. She doesn't appear to have any mastery of the Byakugan. And if I leave them there, like her father wants-"

"The result could be worse for them." Tsunade started again. "If Lightning finds them behind their borders, they have to right tot take the girl, and use her for breeding purposes. They don't have the Caged Bird Seal already, so they can't just lose their eyes once they die, the secret won't be protected. It'll be bad for parties, us and the family. The daughter is used to satiate the pleasures of those bastards in Lightning and they gain the use of the Byakugan, loyal to them because they would be behind Lightning borders." Tsunade had finished her cup of sake and began pouring herself another. "I would think it in the best interest of both Konoha and Hyuga to just bring them back into the family. But I can only step into clan matters so far, they have all right to use the Caged Bird Seal, it is well within their clan laws. They have full right to brand Branch Family members. Because this has never happened in Konoha before, Neji is correct in assuming that if they were to be allowed to stay, they would be branded."

"Aw man," Naruto began, "Tsunade, I just; I can't let anything happen to them, y'know? Well, I don't know the father real well, and I only just met the daughter this morning, but I can't let anything happen to them. To her. I don't know why, she's just the first person I've had more than a 5 minute conversation with since I left here. Well, really since I got drunk last night, but that was completely different. She doesn't deserve what could happen to her. And it's not fair that my options are breeding stock, painful seal, or death. And I can't just bring her somewhere else. If she isn't in Konoha, she's in danger, and this village is on the brink of war." He sat back and ran his dirtied hand over his eyes. This was all just too much. Why'd he have to get himself wrapped up in this shit? He couldn't just be normal and walk away from someone when then wake up hung-over in a field of flowers next to an incredibly good looking woman.

What wasn't normal about what he did?

Getting attached too fast. Taking this problem and making it his problem. He could have sent a note back to Tsunade, explaining things, and moved out. They would have been relocated to Konoha, and things would have gone whichever way. But he couldn't just leave things up to fate. He never believed in it.

_You can control your own destiny…_

And Hinata-chan is so nice, he can't just let her become the servant of the Main Branch, he definitely couldn't let her become Lightning's Hyuga baby-factory. Wouldn't be fair to her, or the kids. He couldn't let her die.

"Well, shit…" Naruto stood slowly, and began walking towards the door. "Listen, I'll send word in a few days, a week tops. You guys start seeing what you can do, talk to the Council, the Elders, the other clans. Everyone. I'll talk to them, try to convince them. If I can't they come back by force, you've got no choice. I told you, it's no secret anymore…" Naruto turned and shook his shaggy hair out a bit and looking at Tsunade and Neji sadly. "Anyways you'll hear from me…"

"Naruto." Neji stood and turned to look at him. "There is one way to keep the hands of the Hyuga council off of these two. They can only take them if they are still Hyuga." Naruto looked at Neji, confusion clearly written over his face.

"Huh?"

Neji shook his head. "If the daughter is no longer a Hyuga, then the Hyuga council has no leeway over her, and by direction, her father. It is a long shot, but it is very plausible that it could work."

Naruto still looked at Neji, confused, and shook his head. "But she is a Hyuga. I can't make her not a Hyuga, can I?"

"Tsunade-sama, could you please assist me, I am not sure I am capable of making him understand, nor do I think I can dumb it down any further." Neji turned his head to look at the Hokage, and she nodded at him.

"Well, I'll try." She stood and walked to the front of her desk. She sat on the edge and held out her hands in front of her. "Naruto, what's your last name?"

"Uzumaki-Namikaze, but you know that."

"No, no, I mean, what was your mother's last name?"

"Uzumaki."

"Right, and your fathers?"

"Namikaze, duh."

"Now, what was your mothers' last name before she gave birth to you?"

"Namikaze, of course, she married my dad…"

"So she wasn't Uzumaki anymore."

"No, she-"Naruto froze. His eyes widened and darted between Tsunade and Neji. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, you mean if I get her married, the Hyuga's can't touch her?" Tsunade nodded her head. "Ok, so we just find her a husband! It shouldn't be too hard, she's real pretty."

"Naruto, if you think you can find her a husband, then go ahead." Tsunade stated.

"It will not be that easy." Neji jumped in. "It would have to be someone from Konoha. The ties need to remain strong."

"Hey, Grandma, you could do that, right?" Naruto said a small smile on his face. "Y'know, find someone here that would be a good match? Find some non-ninja to make her a wife."

"No, Naruto, I don't know if I could find a good match, I don't know her. But I could find her a husband."

"That would not be substantial enough. It would need to be a shinobi, to make sure she doesn't stray out of Konoha's lines. The Council would demand that it be certain she is not a shinobi, and that if she were clever enough to sneak past our defenses, there must be someone who could remove the threat there."

"She's not a ninja though!" Naruto stated.

"I can allow what the Council would allow. If you paired her with a civilian, Tsunade-sama, the Council would have full rights to nullify the marriage. If she were to marry a ninja, only Tsunade would have jurisdiction over the marriage." Neji ran his hand over his face, lowering it slowly to the chair he stood next too.

"But we need to find a proper shinobi match. Currently, there are only 5 male shinobi in the village remotely close to her age; all others are a minimum of 5 years younger than her. Neji, you are a Hyuga and engaged. Lee is married already."

"Kiba hasn't been right since Shino died." Naruto stated. "And Sai, well any woman that marries Sai I feel bad for." Naruto was in contemplation. Hinata could marry Kiba, but he'd be a drunken mess. And if she married Sai, she'd need the patience of a goddess. She did well with him in the flower shop, but Naruto had emotions. Sai lacked just about everything involving social dos and don'ts.

"Then that leaves only one." Tsunade began, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Wha, who?" Naruto couldn't for the life of him think of anyone else. There was Konohamaru, but he was almost 6 years younger than her. And last he heard, he was more interested in his old gang-mate, Moegi.

Neji stared openly at Naruto, incredulous at the man's obliviousness. "Sometimes, Naruto-san, I don't believe you will ever change." Naruto looked at Neji, confused before Tsunade broke in.

"Naruto, you are both a ninja of Konoha and the only viable single male within the parameters that have been set up. It's either you or Sai, but one of you is marrying this Hyuga girl."

Naruto's face was impassive as he stared at Tsunade. Her words hung in the air, heavy between them. Neji stood, face unreadable again, sizing him up. Naruto glanced between the two of them for what seemed like the hundredth time that evening, before shaking his head.

"I don't think I can do that, Grandma. I mean, I just met her, she probably wouldn't like me, I mean, I'm nothin' –"

"Special?" She interjected. "Why not tell her some of your war stories? How you on more than one occasion single handedly save this village from complete and total annihilation? How you have given everything for the people in this village, even when they treated you with scorn and hatred? How you had gone from being the most hated person here, to being the very essence of the Will of Fire we teach in school? Naruto, even if she weren't to know of your ninja past, she would need to be as oblivious as you to not see the kind of person you are. Strong willed, funny, caring, protective, all these things and more up who you are. You've got a way of making people like you."

"But… but I'm not any of those things anymore. I'm not the same Naruto. Not after the things we've seen, right Neji?" The Hyuga clan head had to agree, nodding his head in compliance. "See? We just aren't the same, and I don't think I'd do well married. I mean, I'd probably have to come back to Konoha for good, which I don't want to do. And I'd be on active duty again. I'd be out on missions, and I don't know about you, but if I made this girl fall for me, and then put her through the stress of missions, she'd probably grow to hate me."

"That's the funny thing about love, Naruto. If she did indeed fall for you, she would be worried sick about you. But she'd never, ever hate you. Because you aren't trying to hurt her, or yourself. You are protecting her, and your people. And if you came back to Konoha, I can guarantee you that you would not have the same active duties as the other ninja." Naruto stared at Tsunade, again confused. She just sighed and waved it off. "Listen, you've been here for a few hours now. I'm sure that the two Hyuga you stumbled upon are incredibly concerned about you not being back yet."

"Well, probably, but I think the clones I made are back at the home helping Hinata-chan with dinner."

"Hinata-chan?" Neji asked.

"Yeah, that's her name."

"What's her father's name?"

"Y'know, I don't know. I don't think I asked him…and if he told me, I completely forget." Naruto rubbed the back of his head shyly, a smile on his face. "Oops!"

Neji waved it off, but something sounded familiar, something sounded off about this whole story.

_Who is Hinata Hyuga, and why didn't I hear about missing Hyuga's?_

Naruto looked at Neji, who suddenly seemed pensive. He shrugged it off as one of those Hyuga things, and looked back towards Tsunade. She was standing there, staring at Naruto.

"You know what you have to do right?"

"Naw, I mean I do, just don't wanna."

"Well, you've got no choice. No matter what, they need to come back to Konoha. If you don't marry her, that's fine. We'll find someone suitable. Sai may be a good placement, if she can deal with you, she can probably deal with anyone."

"Then I get them back to Konoha, understood. I'm off after that again."

Tsunade nodded at him. "If you think you need more time away, I'll give it to you."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto waved at her. "Well, I'll be going. It takes too long to get back to Lightning these days." He opened the door behind him and made to move out. He froze just outside the door, and looked back at Tsunade. "I'll send word every week to let you know his fast I can have them here."

She nodded at him, and he left, closing the door silently behind him. She stared at that door for minutes that ticked by like hours. It didn't seem he'd come back. And honestly, she was unsure of what he would do from here. Either way, she was going to have two new Hyuga to place in Konoha, without starting a riot in the Hyuga household.

"What do you think, Tsunade-sama?" Neji stated suddenly, rocking Tsunade from her thoughts.

She looked at his profile, stoic faced, and shook her head. "No idea, but Naruto never was one people could predict."

"Agreed. Sadly, I must return to my home. Rest is in much due order, and I need to investigate into the apparent run away of at least one Hyuga and his daughter. Maybe more. The record will likely not be easy to find. I bid you good evening, Lady Tsunade."

"Yeah, good night Neji. Let me know what you find." Neji nodded and bowed slightly to the Hokage before moving out in a similar fashion to Naruto. Before long, Tsunade was left alone in her office, a stack of papers behind her on the desk. She looked over and noticed the two still full sake cups. She threw the first one back, following it very quickly with the second. She placed the empty cup back on her desk and looked back at the silent door that faced her. The future seemed very unclear, and she did not have the Third Hokage's ability to watch things from afar. No magical looking glass for her. Just word of mouth, if the kid ever actually wrote her. She stood from her place in front of her desk and grabbed the two glasses and bottle from the top. She opened a drawer, and began putting them away, looking at the pale, shallow glasses in her hand.

The little brat.

He took her third cup.

On the other side of Konoha, Neji got the distinct feeling of one pissed off Hokage as he entered the main gates of the Hyuga Compound. He thought it best to leave it be until morning.

****

_Hi! Another chapter, longer than the other ones. I'm already working on the next, so hopefully I can push that one out soon. Thank you all for being so patient with me . I know it's not fun waiting for updates._

_:D_


	8. Chapter 8, Part 1

_Teehee, again, it has been a while. Sorry 'bout that, I had a virus. Sorry. Onto The Chapter! : D_

_****_

The Raikage considered himself many things. An impeccable leader, a more than capable shinobi, an ardent defender, all things on a much longer list of things he called himself. He did not enjoy being taken as a fool.

He stared evenly at the three shinobi lined in front of him. All of rather low Jonin rank, all capable shinobi in their own rights, all currently making him look like an idiot.

"Explain to me once more what you saw?" He stated for the third time, arms crossed over his chest, eyes unreadable behind his dark glasses.

The three shinobi shifted nervously before starting up again.

"We were returning from a routine mission to Rock Country. On our way there we heard word of a group of misfit shinobi, simple thieves waiting on the side of the road for passersby, and killing them for the money and items they carried. One name circled around," the shinobi stopped, uncertain of whether or not to continue. The Raikage remained still, waiting for him to push on, and the silence that faced the shinobi seemed to compel him into continuing, "Tsubasa Sato."

No, the Raikage hated being played as a fool. In remembrance of the bastards name the tension in the room tripled, leaving the three shinobi before him more nervous than before. He continued to stare at the shinobi, but none seemed to want to continue.

That or they were incapable.

"Are you going to continue wasting my time mentioning fools from my past, or are you going to finish your little story?"

The three shinobi jumped at the rigidness of his voice, and a second member of the team jumped in to finish.

"When we were returning from our mission we decided to stop in the area and put the man out of his self induced misery. We came to epicenter of the reports and did a thorough scout, but found nothing immediately. Further investigation revealed the bodies of many men, Tsubasa among them. The bodies were identifiable as simple muggers, no real training between them. It seems the only person there with any shinobi training was Tsubasa. It appears he had created the group with the main intention of stockpiling a large amount of money. When we went through all belongings on the remains and at the camp, there was no money to be found anywhere. Only a wide assortment of old weapons in varying states of condition, very little in terms of civility, and even less of who was actually among the group."

"Is there anything else you wish to report before I decide that this was, as I had predicted, a waste of my time and I remove you very forcefully from my office?"

Again, the shinobi froze. Though the last of the group seemed to have a brighter head on his shoulders than his two companions.

"Yes, sir. When we investigated the bodies, which were in a poor state, there seemed to be peculiarities about the situation and the bodies. All initial wounds, including superficial and fatal, appeared to be caused by one weapon, a single kunai. All victims also appeared to be killed within a single time frame, approximately 45 seconds by our calculations. This led us to once conclusion."

The Raikage stood and stepped out from behind his desk to stand in front of the three shinobi. Arms still crossed in front of him, he towered above them.

"Uzumaki Naruto is in Lightning." He stated matter-of-factly. The shinobi before him seemed skittish, not thinking that the idea would pass, but soon bowed their heads. "You may leave; this information is classified until noted otherwise."

"Yes, Raikage-sama." The three shinobi quickly left the office, closing the door behind them with a light thud. The Raikage had received word from the Gondaime Hokage of the Hidden Leaf months before that her only interest as the next Hokage of her village would be leaving. She would not be placing him on the missing-nin list, nor would she be putting a bounty on his head. She had stated that she would be very pleased if none of his ninja were to go out and hunt him.

There were very few people in all the elemental nations that the Raikage would openly refuse to fight. The large-breasted, fiery-tempered Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves was definitely on his top five. So he did not tell his shinobi that Uzumaki Naruto had left his village. All the young fools would charge out, trying to take down the brash shinobi, if not for the recognition it would provide for them, than for the thrill of the fight that would come from taking down such a strong ninja.

The damn fools would get themselves killed.

The Raikage returned to his seat before looking at some papers on his desk absent-mindedly. When none of these things seemed to keep his mind from wandering, he sighed dejectedly and snapped his fingers. Within moments, two ANBU appeared behind him, silently waiting for orders.

"Find my brother, tell him to come here. An old friend of his is in town, and I believe he would appreciate the opportunity to see him." Silently, the ANBU nodded and shushin'd from the room.

Normal fools would get themselves killed. His brother would just get some nasty cuts and come home smiling like a fool.

It was time he got out for a little fun, anyways.

Naruto stared at the door of the small home in front of him for more than 5 minutes, and still made no move to walk forward. He wasn't sure if his clones had gone back. They hadn't dispelled, he knew this because he hadn't received any memories of gathering wood or catching fish. That obviously meant they were still out or they had come back.

The thing about clones, they knew their lives were short and minor, and most times called out in the heat of battle they were willing to do the things the main wouldn't consider doing. Clones were reliable in battle, not so much in the civilian setting. They were uninhibited; they didn't care much of what they did. And the prankster nature Naruto just overflowed with was amplified by this.

His clones caused more trouble than he did sometimes.

And that was why Naruto stood outside the small Hyuga house, eyes wide, hands clenched slightly at his sides. Honestly he was at a loss. Did he just walk back in? Was that rude? He was told he could stay, so it couldn't possibly be rude.

Could it?

Naruto raised his palms to his face, harshly pressing the heels of them into his eyes. Rubbing slowly, he let his hands slide down his face, pulling his bottom lids down comically before his hands fell limply to his sides once more. He took slow and steady steps up to the stairs, kicking the dirt on the ground as he went. Inches from the first step, the door flew open revealing a slightly out of breath Hinata, long hair piled in a loose and messy bun atop her head. Her cheeks were slightly red and a simple apron clung to her slim frame.

"Ah, N-naruto-san! Father s-said you would b-be out here! Please, c-come in!" She turned quickly, leaving him stunned below the steps. It only took a moment for him come to his senses and bound up the stairs into the house. He closed the door quickly behind him and took of his sandals. He moved quickly down the hall, passing the family room he had been in earlier. He followed the steadily increasing sound of people talking and food being cooked around a corner and farther down the hall. He had to admit, whatever it was, it smelled delicious. The sound of people talking, and the distinct sound of himself laughing, gave Naruto the idea that not only had his clones returned, but that they had been here for quite some time. He looked in one room with an open door, but there were no lights. He could only assume that it was a bedroom and continued on. He looked into a door on his right, discovering the kitchen.

Hinata stood over a simple iron top stove. The bottom was stocked with wood, burning hot beneath it. Three pans sat simmering on the stove top, one obviously filled with a broth. A flat skillet was popping with the oils and seasonings of four fresh fish. Hinata stood there, just far enough away from the stove to not get burned, but close enough to stir the broth as she laid out some vegetables to be cut. Naruto saw one of his clones bound forward, begging her to let him cut them for her. A cute blush dusted her cheeks and she agreed, going back to stirring the broth. She deftly used the flat wooden utensil to gently flip the fish, a small hiss and series of pops coming from the pan as the uncooked sides landed on the hot metal.

She looked like she was really good at cooking. She looked so natural there, flipping fish and stirring broth, slowly adding vegetables to a hot pad and frying them. Naruto watched the one clone drift back to the other side of the island counter, noticing for the first time the other two clones. They all seemed to be looking at Hinata as she cooked. One was obviously ogling her as she faced away from him. Hey, he spent three years with the world famous pervert author of the Icha Icha series. Anyone who expected him to come out complete unscathed from that was obviously out of their mind. The next clone was watching as she cooked, impressed by the fluid movement and perfect co-ordination of all she did. Naruto himself had to be impressed, she was able to simultaneously stir broth, vegetables and watch the fish cook to perfection.

Naruto caught himself glancing at the last clone. The clone had a look of serenity about his face, a look Naruto wasn't sure if he had ever had on his face before. He knew that if he did, it was a long time ago. The clones' eyes didn't move, just watched the back of her head as she cooked. She cocked her head to the side and a small lock of hair fell from behind her ear. He watched as the clone watched her had slide up her face, successfully grabbing the hair and sliding it back behind her ear before going back to work. No smile adorned that clones face, no lecherous grin, no surprised or shocked expression, no state of awe. He seemed only at ease watching her cook, as if something was going through his mind as he watched her.

Did things go through clones minds? Wasn't it his mind anyways?

With clones, things just get tricky. Naruto dared a further glance around the kitchen. Not seeing her father anywhere, he moved into the room. The clone closest to him saw him and made a motion to speak, but Naruto silence him with a quick wave of his hand. The second clone saw him, be decidedly remained quiet. As Naruto rounded the island, the third clone made no motion to acknowledge him or speak to him, so Naruto made no motion to acknowledge him. He moved to stand slightly behind Hinata, looking over her shoulder to the food she was making. The fish was golden, and smelled so good he almost couldn't keep his fingers out of the hot pan. The vegetables were just starting to brown, and Hinata used the flat wooden spatula to stir the vegetables before putting it back in the broth. Naruto briefed a glance at that, the pale yellow broth bubbling only slightly. He saw noodles swimming beneath the surface of the liquid and Naruto caught himself drooling.

Noodles.

Noodles in broth.

That means one thing.

"Ramen!" Naruto burst out, hands flown up into the air excitedly.

Hinata spun around, shocked, pale eyes wide in a sort of fear. The spatula still in her hands, hot water dripping down the handle and towards her hand, but she didn't seem to notice.

"N-n-naruto-san!" She began, but words didn't seem to formulate in her mouth. He noticed the blush rise up her neck and crawl over her cheeks. After a few moments her entire face was red, and Naruto was fairly certain she wasn't breathing.

"Heya, Hinata-chan, your face is all red, are you okay?" He watched as she tried to nod her head yes before her eyes started to roll into the back of her head and she began to sway dangerously. Naruto, being as dense as he could be, wasn't too sure what was going on.

And then she fell, sideways thank the gods, not near the stove. Naruto reached out to grab her, catching her under the arms as she drifted closer to the floor. The wooden spatula clattered on the ground in the otherwise silent kitchen. Naruto stood there, eyes wide open, mouth hanging slightly ajar, clumsily holding the unconscious Hinata up. He looked over his shoulder at his clones, who were all looking at Naruto in a state of mirrored shock.

In a matter of seconds they were all rushing forward to help Naruto pick up Hinata and carry her to the chairs on the other side of the island. They sat her down before looking at Naruto expectantly.

"Boss, why'd ya have ta go and scary the lady!"

"Yeah, she was making dinner for everyone!"

"C'mon, it was lookin really good too!"

"Hey, hey, hey, enough already, I didn't mean too ok! She's got a weak constitution or somethin', alright. But, until she wakes up, we need to finish the dinner. If her dad comes in and see's me and three clones surrounding his unconscious daughter, something tells me we're gonna get Jyuuken'd, and we all know how much that stuff hurts." All of the clones nodded at him, and began finishing up. One clone stayed behind with Hinata, to watch if she woke up, and the other two worked with him to find dinner plates and bowls and chopsticks and all of the things he couldn't find. Naruto himself stood over the stove, finishing up the meal. The noodles were done, he could tell that. Years of living off of ramen make him a sort on connoisseur of the stuff. The fish he wasn't too sure of and the vegetables seemed done. He honestly didn't know about that either, he never really ate vegetables.

So the last of the clones went to work, setting out bowls and Naruto took the noodles off the heat and placed it off to the side. He picked the spatula up off the ground and looked around. He didn't see a sink anywhere in the kitchen. He didn't really see much of anything, all the light in the kitchen came from a few lamps and candles scattered around and of course the stove top.

"Hey guys?" All the clones looked up expectantly at Naruto. "Where…where would I wash this or something so I can stir the vegetables and shit?" The two standing clones look at Naruto before looking at each other and then at the third, sitting clone. That one shrugged his shoulders and went back to watching the unconscious Hinata once more. The standing clones looked back at Naruto with the same sort of indifference, and Naruto was starting to get frustrated. "I'm not gonna just use it now, it was on the floor!"

"What's wrong with that, boss?" One of the clones piped in.

"Well, normally I wouldn't mind, but y'know, this isn't my house or anything and I don't think they're as lax about that stuff as I am." He stated, waving the spatula around as he did so.

"But no one's here but us!" The second clone threw in. "Anyways, I don't think they'll mind if they know the situation."

"No, I don't really think so..." Naruto turned back towards the fish and looked at them. They seemed to be finished, and the vegetables had to be done by now. With no other choice, he took the spatula and wiped it off on a small towel lying on the island before going back to the stove. Gently, he moved around the vegetables before going back to looking at the fish. The skin was a golden color and crackled nicely in the pan. He took that off of the heat and moved it away before turning back to the vegetables and stirring them once more. They seemed to be cooking nicely, and they smelled really good. Naruto was never a big fan of vegetables, he wouldn't try to hide that, but in this case he didn't think he'd mind eating them.

Quickly, he took those off of the heat as well and moved them next to the fish. The clones had managed to find some bowls and chopsticks and had set three out on the island. Naruto brought the pot of noodles over and went to pour it out, but froze.

"Aw, man, how am I supposed to serve it?"

****

Hinata felt very warm. Slowly, she began coming too. She didn't remember falling asleep though, how very odd. She was cooking. And then Naruto came up behind her and yelled something and startled her.

Naruto!

The food!

Hinata's head snapped up quickly, a blush again on her cheeks, and she looked around the small kitchen. Two Naruto's stood on the other side of the island, near the stove, one holding a white ceramic bowl. She looked to the second one who seemed to be contemplating something as he looked around the kitchen. A third Naruto stood in front of the stove holding the pot that held the broth and noodles she had been cooking. He was looking around the kitchen as well, rather frantically as it were. Her eyes slowly drifted over to her left, where a fourth Naruto was sitting next to her. He watched her face for a second before smiling brightly.

"Hey there pretty lady!"

The blush that was on her cheeks darkened multiple shades, and all the other Naruto's turned to look at her. Her wide, pale eyes darted between them all. Three of them were smiling, the one Naruto holding the pot with broth mirrored her facial expression. Eyes wide and cheeks slightly blushed. His mouth hung open a bit and he was looking back and forwards from the Naruto next to her to her face.

"Uh…" He started, "I think it's time these trouble makers went home. You!" His face whipped around to the clone holding the bowl, who in turn looked at him with a shocked expression. "Put that down!" That Naruto placed the bowl on the counter next to him quickly. "All right, now say goodbye to Hinata."

"Aww, but boss!" One whined.

"C'mon do we have to, we were being helpful!" The second blurted at the same time.

The last Naruto, sitting next to Hinata only smile kindly.

"Goodnight Hinata-chan."

Before Hinata could respond, there were three popping noises, and the kitchen filled with a heavy smoke. It drifted out slowly, then cleared enough for Hinata to see. The Naruto holding the pot still stood there, but the other three Naruto's were gone.

"U-um, Naruto-san, w-where are the other N-naruto's?" He looked at her blankly for a moment, eyes slightly glazed over. Hinata was worried, was something wrong with him? He didn't seem like this earlier, maybe something happened while he was gone…

As quickly as those thoughts entered her mind, Naruto shook his head and looked at her again. He smiled nicely before asking, "What was that, I didn't quite hear you."

"I a-asked, what h-happened to the o-other Naruto's."

He stared at her for a moment before smiling at her widely. "Uh, do you mind if I tell you that in a bit? This pot is kinda hot, and I don't know where anything to spoon stuff out is."

"Oh!" Hinata stood up quickly, rushing around the island to the lower counters. She reached down and pulled out a ladle with teeth, and handed it to him. She took the bowl from the counter and placed it next to the other two already sitting there. She grabbed the fish and brought them over. Looking over the two filled bowls of broth and noodles, she began picking out fish and placing it on top. As soon as he had filled the last bowl, she placed fish there as well. She placed the pan back on the stove top and grabbed the vegetables. She moved back next to Naruto and began placing those out as well.

Naruto, for the most part after finishing filling the bowls, just stood by and watched Hinata as she worked. She was effective and efficient, using a pair of chopsticks to put everything in place. The food looked amazing and by the smell of it would taste even better. He watched her place the last of the vegetables in the bowl and put the now empty pan on the stove top, next to the almost empty broth.

Hinata turned around with a smile on her face.

"W-well, Naruto-san, its a-all ready. I'll g-go get father, y-you can start eating i-if you w-want." With that, she moved around him and towards the other end of the kitchen and out a door. Naruto looked passed it and saw one more door leading outside. Maybe he was doing late night gardening? Who knew? He pulled one of the bowls towards him and picked up a set of chopsticks. He leaned into the steam and inhaled heavily. Gods, it smelled better than Ichiraku's. And nothing smelled better that Ichiraku's. He muttered a quick 'itedakimasu' before using the chopsticks to break a piece of fish off. Slowly, he grabbed a few noodles and vegetables with it and brought it to his lips. He placed it in his mouth, and then fanned at himself.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot…" As soon as it was cool enough to chew and swallow, he did.

The fish. Was perfect. It was seasoned lightly, but all the flavors seemed to burst in his mouth. The noodles were soft and the broth they were cooked in had a slight flavor to it as well. And the vegetables, even though he rarely ate them, if Hinata cooked for him everyday he'd eat vegetables all the time.

He was jumping to conclusions again. Hinata would be back in Konoha and cooking for someone else. He would need to speak with Hinata's father, tell him what he had been ordered to do. The man was aging, he wouldn't fight back physically but if he was worried about what would happen o her in Konoha, he'd only have to remind him of what would happen to here if Kumo ever figured out that they were within borders.

Naruto continued taking small bites from the ramen in front of him as he wondered ways to speak with Hinata's father that hopefully wouldn't have him Jyuuken'd.

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_ Well I know it's been a while and I'm really sorry for the semi-abrupt ending, but I'm working on part two of this chapter as we speak. I just got two jobs and let's just say... they are time consuming. . BUT! I will be working on this every down moment I have because I owe it to you all, and you all deserve, to see a finished story._

_Again, all feedback would be much appreciated! Have a wonderful day, and peace!_


	9. Chapter 8, Part 2

_I should be pushing this out soon, but I figured I'd write a preface to this and just mention something's I saw in reviews as I continue writing this._

_To Suave Jiraiya, I understand exactly what you are saying, initially as I read the story, I too thought that having Hinata out of the Shinobi life would really put a damper on her character as a whole. But as I started writing and continuing the plot on my own, I discovered that writing a non-shinobi Hinata is a lot of fun, and can be handled however the plot demands. Don't worry too much, you'll see later on what I have planned and I think you may enjoy it. : )_

_On with the story!_

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Hiashi stood just outside of the small garden he had made to continuously bring food into the house, slowly going over Gentle Fist katas. He would do this, sometimes, not only to keep himself well rounded but to think. He would do them slowly, diligently, and with precise action. Whether it be night or day, he could come out and do the thinking that needed to be done. Most time, it was merely about what he would do to help Hinata with dinner, sometimes about how he would spend his time the next day.

But for the first time in ages, Hiashi was worried. Not merely with the arrival of a ninja, not only because this ninja was form Konoha, not just because his daughter seemed so at easy with this ninja even if she stuttered like a fool. The arrival of a ninja could give warning to Kumo, and while Hiashi was certain he could hold off a few ninja for a short amount of time, long battles would be his downfall. And younger ninja from Kumo were certainly going to be harsh adversaries. Hinata had no combat training, he was certain she couldn't even throw a punch, and he was quite fine with that. He didn't want his shy flower of a daughter to have to cover her hands in the blood of people who may need to be killed, he didn't want her to deal with the pain of death, he didn't want her to have to take a life.

As he slipped into a defensive stance and began some simple palm thrusts and steps, he though himself a fool. Sooner or later she would have to deal with death. Eventually, his time would be done, and she would have to lay her father down to rest for an eternity. Then she would be alone in this land. Maybe, just maybe, he could get her out of here before his death. Maybe he could send her away to somewhere else, anywhere else, to keep her safe. Not Konoha. No, Konoha would destroy his daughter, the family they were a part of would take her and brand her and break her precious heart into a thousand pieces and that was just as bad as her becoming a ninja. For a broken daughter was a tragedy, no matter how the pieces split.

He heard her gentle footsteps coming around the garden, trying to find him. He moved to a relaxed stand and dusted the small amounts of dirt off his clothes as she rounded the corner.

"F-father, the food is ready now if you are hungry." She stepped towards him and took his arm, leading him back towards the house. He allowed himself to be led, with a small smile on his face. Walking with her like this reminded him of walking with his late wife. The would go between the flowers of the Hyuga gardens, whispering sweet nothing to each other and telling small jokes. She would stifle her laughs behind her hand as he openly smiled at her.

She had been beautiful.

And his daughter was just as beautiful.

Hiashi kept his small smile on as he walked next to her slowly.

"Hinata, child, how was your day? I apologize for not being able to speak with you more in depth about it. Those… clones of Naruto-san's are quite rambunctious. "

Hinata's cheeks seemed to darken from what Hiashi could see out of the corner of his eyes, and he had to keep in a laugh. His daughter, despite her age, was still quite naïve in all her mind, and it appeared that she felt the same about the clones. He would have to have words with the Uzumaki boy to make sure his clones were acting appropriately around his daughter.

"E-everything went fine, N-naruto-san was very h-helpful even though h-he didn't qu-quite understand e-everything I was t-telling him about the f-flowers. But he s-seemed to really l-like them." Her steps were slow and deliberate, and she looked down at her feet as if her shoes were the most interesting thing in the world. Hiashi nodded understandingly, knowing she couldn't really see his movements as she looked down.

He watched as the rear door came into view, lights in the kitchen flickering gently as he approached. Hinata raised her head, the lights illuminating the slight blush on her cheeks.

"O-oh, I hope he likes t-the food, he seems t-to have a thing for r-r-ramen…" Hiashi only raised an eyebrow at her words. Ramen? What on earth had given her the idea to make ramen of all things?

The Clones. It had to have been, she had never shown any interest in ramen before. He didn't even know she knew how to make ramen.

Pff, ramen.

Though he'd have to settle for it. If his daughter cooked it, it was bound to be delicious.

They stepped up to the door, Hinata letting her father enter first. Hiashi bent over slightly and removed his shoes as he stepped into the house. He placed them by the door and entered, watching as Hinata did the same thing. He stepped forward over the landing and into the kitchen, only to be met by the strangest sight.

The Uzumaki boy was sitting at his table, not so strange in itself, but he sat there with his chopsticks near his face chewing. And his expression…

It was like he tasted something downright amazing, which Hinata's cooking always was. His eyes were closed in bliss and a goofy smile adorned his face as he chewed slowly. The chopsticks bobbed as he chewed, as if he were conducting a symphony. The bowl sat half filled in front of him as he ate, completely unaware of the company now in the room with him.

Hiashi cleared his throat loudly just as Hinata entered the kitchen. Behind him, she jumped, something he couldn't see as he looked at Naruto. He still had the remnants of his euphoria still on his face and he jumped and spun around to face them. He looked confused as he looked at Hiashi, then froze as he looked between him and his bowl of ramen.

"What?" He stated mouth still partially full of ramen. Hinata made a small smile as Hiashi's eyebrows rose on his forehead. His eyes narrowed slightly and he stepped forward, walking past Naruto to one of the two untouched bowls on the other side of the island. He made no move to sit down as he began to eat slowly.

His daughter was really a very good cook.

Hinata followed her father's lead, taking her bowl, but moving to one of the unoccupied seats on the side of the island that Naruto sat on. She too began eating slowly as Naruto watched her sit down.

He finished chewing and swallowed what was in his mouth before speaking up again.

"Sorry about earlier, Hinata-chan, I just really, _really_ like ramen. It's, like, only the best food in the whole wide world!" He exaggerated everything he said with wild hand movements, his arms flinging up as he finished his sentence. Hinata blushed again as he once more dug into his food.

"I-it's all right, N-naruto-san. I just g-got a little f-flustered is all."

Again Hiashi looked at Naruto. He finished the bit of fish he was chewing on and placed his chopsticks down with a small clack.

"Apologize for earlier?" He began softly. "My, my, Uzumaki-san, what did you do to my daughter?"

Naruto gulped down the noodles in his mouth, mentally wincing as is scalded its way down his throat.

"O-oh, father, it's f-fine, r-really he d-d-didn't –"

"Naw, you see," Naruto started in over Hinata's quiet voice. "I came in and went over to see what she was cooking and when I saw it was ramen I kind of just yelled really loud and it scared her and she fainted, so I was just saying sorry because I didn't quite get the chance to before. Y'know, she was kinda unconscious." He finished, looking at Hiashi then turning to look at Hinata. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks had a pretty blush on them as she looked between Naruto and her father. He looked back at Hiashi, and watched as he nodded his head once and picked his chopsticks back up.

"My daughter is slightly easy to scare, so please refrain from yelling around her. If she fell and got hurt because of fainting I would not be very pleased."

Naruto stared at him openly as he ate before shaking himself out of shock and looking back down at his bowl. He was nearly done, some fish and vegetables floating in the broth with a few noodles. He finished up the bigger pieces that he could grab before picking the bowl up and slurping down the broth and smaller items.

Hiashi looked up for a small moment as he heard the noise of the broth being consumed. He didn't look at Naruto; no he merely stared ahead before going back to eating his own food

Hinata, for the most part, was a bit mortified. She didn't know if her father was simply neutral towards Naruto or if he was trying to scare him. Maybe he was trying to be humorous? Her father could be funny at times, but he was typically just a simple man, he didn't do much joking around.

He couldn't possibly be joking with Naruto.

So maybe he was worried, but that didn't make sense, Naruto was such a nice person. He didn't look like he would harm a fly! He was just bubbly, and gentle, and so kind, and very funny, and –

"Hey Hinata-chan, you're face is all red again!" She looked up at Naruto very quickly before ducking her head down and playing with her noodles. "Heya, you ok?

Hinata nodded her head and lifted up some vegetables to her lips. She chewed on them for a little bit before swallowing. Naruto just looked at her bowed head before shrugging his shoulders and looking back at Hiashi.

"So, uh, what do you guys do here, y'know, other than eat? Because you can't do that all day. You both do…stuff…right?" Hiashi looked up at Naruto for a bit before placing his chopsticks down and looking at his relatively empty bowl. He picked up the bowl and brought it around towards the back door. He looked back at Naruto and motioned for him to follow. Naruto looked at him, confused, before picking up his own bowl and walking behind him. Hiashi slipped his shoes back on, and Naruto realized the folly of leaving his by the front door. Instead of speaking up and walking back to get them, he just walked outside. He was a ninja, he wasn't afraid of dirt. He'd been sleeping outside for the majority of his 'trip'.

He watched as Hiashi moved to a set of small barrels off the side of the house, by some posts with line around the top. Hiashi stooped by the barrel furthest from the posts and placed the bowl in it. He pulled the sleeves of his robe up and brought a small rag out. He dipped the rag into the water and pulled the bowl up, washing it with steady circular motions against the porcelain. Naruto watched him dumbly, still holding his own bowl. Hiashi looked up at him with a small smile playing about his lips.

"Are you going to stand there all night, Uzumaki-san, or are you going to wash the dish you used?" Naruto blinked a few times before muttering another unintelligent 'oh' before crouching down by the bucket. He slipped his bowl into the water and began washing it without the help of the rag. Hiashi finished with his own and handed Naruto the rag he had been using. Naruto took it and found that, despite what he had initially thought, there was soap on it. It was fine, the bubbles were small and soft, and he rubbed it against the porcelain of his own bowl. He rinsed it off and stood, leaving the rag on the side of the barrel. He walked over the Hiashi, who had used a second rag to dry his bowl and took the offered piece of fabric to dry his own.

"Place it on the line to dry a little for Hinata." Hiashi said before turning and walking back towards the house. Naruto did as he was instructed and followed him. He watched as Hiashi placed his bowl, upside down, on a small mat just outside the door and walked towards his small garden. Naruto watched him for a little bit before he stepped into the first stair to go into the house.

"If you wouldn't mind, Uzumaki-san," Hiashi started, causing Naruto to stop and turn towards him. He stood still, his back still facing Naruto, his hands clasped behind his back, "please walk with me for a little bit, I believe there are things we need to…discuss."

Naruto shrugged and placed his bowl in the same fashion next to Hiashi's before moving back down the step and walking next to him. "One question, Uzumaki."

"Yeah?"

"Where are your shoes?"

Naruto looked down at his unclad feet and wiggled his toes.

"Well, I wasn't expecting coming outside and I came in through the front door…. So they're out front."

Hiashi sighed a little bit and nodded. "Very well, but before you enter the house again –"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm gunna wash my feet off, I already planned on it."

"Very well."

Naruto walked next to Hiashi as he strolled through some of the taller plants and bushes towards the garden. Sparing short glances his way, he surveyed the man next to him. Naruto by no means ever considered himself tall, he was the shortest boy in his class during the academy. After he had gone training with Jiraiya, he grew a lot. Probably because Jiraiya wouldn't let him eat ramen all the time. Damn old man made him eat fruit and vegetables and grains and all that healthy stuff that people need.

But next to Hiashi he figured he looked pretty tall. He overshadowed the man by maybe 5 inches, looking fairly steadily at the top of his head. In the constant shadow of night, Naruto couldn't see much more than his profile and ridiculously straight hair and he wasn't sure he wanted to get to in depth with this man's looks.

They did indeed have things to talk about.

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_I thought that this would be a good place to end chapter 8 part 2 only because if I continued on it would probably be a bit too much for one (part 2) chapter._

_Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and such, they make me smile! : )_

_Peace!_

_UPDATE: Chapters four through eight part two have been reviewed and I believe I've fixed some of the spelling errors that people have been mentioning. If not, please let me know, that way I can get to the bottom of my horrid typing! Yay!_

_Also, some people have been saying they are confused by the direction of the story, or that I haven't given enough detail. If you could just be a little clearer I would love to know where things get confusing. The only thing I want is for you people to have a good story to read, because good stories make people happy._

_And I love it when people are happy. : )_


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